The Only Series
by abnegation218
Summary: A usual theme with more twists in it than a 5 ft. tall ice cream cone. KibaNaru. Lemon in later chapters. You have been warned! I do not own any of the characters in this story. The plot, however, is my own. Betas by NaughtyTech and sasquatchsnake of LJ.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note**: This is my first time writing for FFN. This is a very old series which is still in progress, but I had it posted on LiveJournal. This is a KibaNaru AU. In case you didn't notice before, this is rated M, however that rating is for later chapters. It's all mostly T until you get to chapter 11.

Even though this is old, that doesn't mean that I won't appreciate comments! Also, one of my betas is Naughtyech, a fellow KibaNaru fanatic. Pay him a visit if you like KibaNaru, or if you just plain like reading. I beta his stories, he betas mine. I think that I've gone on long enough, so without further adieu, I present the first chapter of what will be a _very_ long series...

The Only Question

It was just another Wednesday afternoon to Inuzuka Kiba as his alarm clock rang. Another day of boring lectures from Iruka-Sensei, and another day of getting yelled at for sleeping in class. He lazily got up and sat on the edge of his bed, still trying to wake up. Akamaru was curled in a ball at the foot of his bed. Kiba let out a long, pessimistic sigh before he finally stood up and made his way to the bathroom. The warm water in the shower had almost made him fall asleep again. Kiba detested mornings, he was always groggy and cranky. His parents used to scold him for that, saying that only little kids were cranky in the morning, but after three years, they had all but given up.

His parents were both working the early shift, so they had already left. That meant that Kiba would have to make his own breakfast. He half-walked, half-fell down the stairs that led to his kitchen. He scratched his thigh and wondered what he knew how to make. Eggs? No, they always ended up scrambled. Pancakes? No, half of them ended up burned and the other half ended up being just a warm pile of batter. So, cereal it was.

A less than satisfying bowl of Cheerios later, he was on his way down the street to Konoha High. He often wondered why he even bothered going to school. He wasn't taking any classes that interested him, he always did poorly on tests, and he couldn't remember the due date for any major projects to save his life. Though he always bitched and moaned to everyone he knew about how much he hated school, there was a part of him that looked forward to the first period bell. It wasn't that that was the best time to sleep, or that he was able to top off his breakfast with some chips. No, it was the fact that he sat directly behind Uzumaki Naruto.

He had known the guy since before he could remember, but it was only recently that he had started looking at the blond differently. He couldn't put his finger on what it was though. Kiba had always liked girls. He never passed up an opportunity to check out a cute girl as she passed him in the hallway. But, lately, he found that he was less and less interested in girls, and more and more interested in guys. No, that wasn't true. It was just Naruto, he hadn't had any other feeling about any other guy, even those half naked underwear models in the ads he saw his mother looking at a little too often. All he could do was hope that this feeling would pass and he could go back to smuggling Playboys from the box marked "Taxes" in the bottom of his Dad's closet.

He was still a block away from school when he heard the warning bell ring. "Oh, shit! Oh, shit!" he thought as he sprinted to school, not wanting the have yet another tardy on his record. Iruka-Sensei said that if Kiba was late one more time, he would have detention for an entire month, copying his biology textbook word for word, and let's just say that there weren't a lot of pictures in it.

He skidded to a halt outside of Iruka-Sensei's door just as the late bell started to ring. He collapsed in his chair still gasping for breath. Well, at least he got to stare at his newfound crush for the next hour. It took Kiba a second to realize that the seat in front of him was empty. "Naruto can't be absent!" he thought. He started reciting his colorful vocabulary under his breath until he heard the classroom door slam. He looked up so fast, he was sure he broke something somewhere. But, it was worth it. Standing in the doorway was the unmistakable spiky hair and childish face of Uzumaki Naruto. It appeared that Kiba wasn't the only one that had trouble getting up this morning.

"I'm sorry Iruka-Sensei" Naruto said as he bowed to the teacher. He continued to bow until Iruka waved his hand for Naruto to take his seat. Kiba found that he was disappointed when Naruto took his seat because he had been enjoying the great view of Naruto's ass. Now came an hour of staring at the back of the blond's head. He imagined what it would be like to kiss those soft, warm lips. To hold Naruto, and for Naruto to hold him back. Standing on the beach at sunset watching the sun go down together as they held each others hand. Hugging him and feeling Naruto's warm body heat Kiba's. Laying on the beach after the sun had set playing with Naruto's swim suit, slowly moving it off of his hips and... "Whoa!" Kiba broke out of his stupor at this point. That had gotten a little too weird for him. He found several students staring at him, he must have started to fall asleep when he had that little fantasy.

"Good morning, Mr. Inuzuka." Iruka said, giving Kiba an evil smile from across the room. "I'm so glad you decided to join us today." The rest of the class snickered as Kiba's ears turned red. Then he saw Naruto looking at him, which made him even more embarrassed, which made his ears turn even redder. If Iruka hadn't have returned to the lesson right then, all the blood in Kiba's body might have gone to his brain and caused him to get a fever. He once again found himself gasping for air. It felt like the side of his head was on fire. He was about to raise his hand and ask to go to the bathroom so he could splash some water on his face when Iruka suddenly turned to face the class with an excited expression on his face. "I almost forgot, we will be going to the beach just down the road next Friday to see the oysters that have gathered there."

He then began passing out a yellow paper to the class. "Please have your parents sign this and return it to me by next Wednesday. Not next Thursday, not before the bell on Friday, Wednesday!" The bell rang and the class shuffled out as Iruka continued to rattle off the days that the permission slip was not to be turned in.

As Kiba made his way to his second period class, he thought about the upcoming field trip, this could be his chance to get Naruto alone, and on the beach no less! There was no way he was going to miss that trip. Not even the Devil himself could stop him.

-One Week Later-

It was just another Wednesday to Inukuza Kiba. Wait... no, that was last week. Today it was the 2nd best day of his life; the best being the following Friday. He had gotten his permission slip signed the second his parents got home from work. He had paced around the living room for one hour, fourty-six minutes, and eleven seconds before his mother came in the door and Kiba practically forced her to sign the yellow sheet which would bring him closer to the blond-haired boy his heart so longed for.

Kiba ran out of the house twenty minutes before he usually got out of bed, like if he got to school early, Iruka would say "Since Kiba was here so early, we're going on the field trip today, everyone strip!" Ok, maybe not the last part, but he couldn't contain his excitement. He had never been at school this early before, apparently no one had as the only ones who were there were teachers and custodians. He saw that Iruke-Sensei wasn't at school yet, so Kiba decided to walk around for a few minutes. He walked out into the courtyard which served as the social center of the school. A giant fountain was in the center where a stone hawk continuously streamed water out from his open beak. There were benches at irregular intervals, each serving as a kind of headquarters for each major social clique. The seat with all the flower stickers and weird-smelling perfume was where the preppy cheerleaders hung out. The bench that had little skulls carved into it was where the Goths socialized, or rather, shared suicide methods with one another. The bench with a giant "EMc2" was where all the math geeks hung out. That was the only bench with an occupant which was odd for two reasons: Obviously, school had a long way to go before it started, and the dark clouds looming overhead didn't exactly scream "come sit under me!" It appeared that he was reading a book, probably something with a title along the lines of How to Use Math to Get a Girlfriend.

In the seat was a short guy sitting cross-legged on the bench in an orange jumpsuit of some kind which oddly resembled...

"Nuh-uh!" Kiba thought. No way was that Naruto. But when the boy looked up at the newest arrival to the courtyard, Kiba could see that there was no denying that the math geek was in fact Uzumaki Naruto. Naruto looked surprised at first, but then he started to smile and waved Kiba over. Kiba experienced several emotions at this point; excitement for being invited to sit with the single most attractive person in his life at the time, confusement at being invited to sit with a guy that he had barely said two words to since the beginning of the year, and fear that he would catch some disease that made you like math. After swallowing the 20,000 frogs that seemed to have gathered in his throat, Kiba made his way over to the bench.

"Hey Kiba, it's been a while." exclaimed Naruto.

"Yeah, it has." Kiba replied, having to muster up the courage to even open his mouth, let alone form words.

"What have you been up to?"

"Oh... nothing special. What about you Uzumaki?" Kiba scolded himself for calling Naruto by his last name, what was he thinking?

"Just exploring my sexual orientation."

Kiba nearly had a heart attack. "Come again?" He said, with his voice cracking at every possible syllable.

"Just exploring my mental retention. Why, what did you think I said?" Kiba could see that Naruto's book had absolutely nothing to do with using math to get a girlfriend, in fact, it read Remember Faster Longer

Kiba just laughed a little bit. "uh... I've got to go talk to Iruka-Sensei." Kiba lied.  


"Alright, see you first period."

Kiba tried to mutter some kind of response, but the best he could do was raise his hand to make, what must have been, the most pathetic wave "good-bye" in the history of human civilization. Kiba ran to the bathroom, afraid that he might throw up from all the stress that small little exchange had created. He used to be able to talk to Naruto like any of his other friends. He never had this problem when he talked to Neji or Choji. Kiba thought it was safe to say that this was not a "phase" and that it was not just going to pass.

-The End of First Period-

"And that is why blood is red." Iruka finished his lesson for the day. "Alright, pass your permission slips up." Kiba opened his backpack and found the yellow piece of paper not that it was difficult to find, he had put it into a bright orange folder and labeled it "BEACH". He took it out and looked up to see Naruto looking back at him with the same smile that he had greeted him with just an hour or so before. The nauseating feeling that had Kiba hunched over a toilet for fifteen minutes returned with a vengence. He quickly thrust the paper into the blond's outstreched hand, eager for Naruto to look anywhere but at him...


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who read my previous chapter, I hope you enjoy this one as much as you did the last, and I hope you enjoy the many more that are to come!

...After handing Naruto his permission slip to pass forward, Kiba heard the bell for the end of class. He breathed a sigh of relief at not having to be in the same room as Naruto anymore. Not that he didn't want to be in a room with Naruto, he wanted quite the opposite in fact, he wanted as much time alone with him as he could get, but he was having trouble adjusting to his new life. He was having a hard enough time adjusting to his being gay, well, he didn't want to jump to conclusions. He was having a hard enough time adjusting to the _possibility_ that he was gay, let alone getting a crush on one of his oldest friends, and potentially getting to see said friend topless, with a six pack and... Kiba growled to himself as he walked down the hallway, he couldn't even control his own thoughts anymore.

Kiba couldn't stop the battle that was raging in his mind. He spent the majority of math class with his head on his desk; his resemblance to a pouting dog was uncanny. There were two sides to this cerebral battle, one that wanted to explore this new life and wanted to accept it and just "roll with the punches" as it were. The other side argued that he should suppress these feelings and hope that this actually was a phase. It was as if he was in the middle of a war with artillery landing everywhere and the constant sound of bullets whizzing past him. It gave him a headache and just pissed him off in general. All he wanted to do was get one moment of peace, but his mind wasn't about to acknowledge this. This went on for the remainder of the school day. After school, Kiba went home, went up to his room, locked the door, closed the blinds, and collapsed on his bed from exhaustion.

When Kiba woke up, it took him a second to realize where he was. When he regained basic motor skills, a feat in and of itself, he got up from the bed and looked at his clock. The green lights read **8:42. **He opened the door to his room after remembering to unlock it and was instantly blinded by the hallway light. He went downstairs to see his mother reading a magazine in the living room and his father reading the news on the office computer.

"How was school, honey?" His mother asked, without even bothering to look up from her magazine.

Kiba's response to this was a simple grunt, but she understood what it meant. He made his way to the family room and turned on the TV. Of 894 channels, none of them had anything that interested a teenage boy dealing with his sexual orientation. He sat on the couch staring at the blank TV screen as he recalled the past week and how he went from being ecstatic about this trip, to wanting to avoid it altogether. It must have happened in the courtyard earlier that day. Up until that point he never really pictured Naruto when he would have his little fantasies, his face would always be distorted, probably because he would vomit if he pictured his real face, not because Naruto was repulsive, he was anything but that, but there was no way Kiba could handle seeing, really _seeing_ Naruto's face. Seeing him in that courtyard must have freaked him out more than he thought.

"Ok," he thought, "I need to straighten this out. I know that I have a crush on Naruto, and I'm pretty sure that it's not going to just go away, so I should just face it. But, on the other hand, I don't want to be gay. No one would like me anymore and I could get beaten up and, God only know what else. Well, I guess I will get to find out who my real friends are. I don't think Chouji will care, and I doubt Neji will even say anything. But, what about Naruto, what will he think? If he rejects me, then there's no point in coming out at all. Then again, what if he's also gay? I could end up with the guy of my dreams. Well, I guess there's no harm in trying. Tomorrow I'll tell Chouji and see what his reaction is. If he freaks out, then I have no idea how I'd be able to tell Naruto."

Satisfied with the fruits of his reasoning, Kiba got off the couch far more happier than he was when he sat down on it. It was a warm night out and there was nothing better than a walk around Konoha when the air was warm enough so you don't have to wear a jacket, but cold enough so that you don't have to start sweating. After finding Akamaru hiding in a pile of dirty clothes in Kiba's room, he headed out the door. Kiba always felt better when Akamaru was with him, it was like having a kind of walking security blanket. Any stress that remained was blown away as the wind found its way around Kiba's chest. Kiba spent the better part of two hours walking around aimlessly when his cell phone vibrated and his mother told him to come home.

-Friday-

The day he had been looking forward to for over a week had finally come. He ran to school like he did on Wednesday and eagerly sat outside of Iruka's room waiting for him to come open the door. Every minute seemed like an hour. When Iruka finally arrived, Kiba ran past him and eagerly took his seat at the back of the classroom. Iruka gave him the oddest of looks, obviously wondering why Kiba had come to class so early. Kiba was still too excited to sit still, he tapped the desk, drummed his fingers, whistled, and anything else the guy next to you on a plane might have done. Students began to filter in, many of them obviously wearing their bathing suits under their clothes. Iruka said that the best oysters were a few feet underwater, so at low tide, everyone was going to have to get in and get wet, which Kiba didn't mind at all. Since the bus was leaving 10 minutes after class started, they'd have a good two and a half hours before low tide, and Kiba intended to spend every second of it stealing glances of Naruto.

15 minutes into class, they were still in the school and no one could figure out why. Iruka had left 5 minutes before to check on the buses. But, that's not what worried Kiba. What he was worried about was the fact that there was one student who decided not to come to class that Friday. Needless to say, the enthusiasm that Kiba had built up Wednesday night had all but disintegrated by now. Iruka came back and announced that the beach they were originally going to go to had a storm approaching it, so the local authorities had closed the beach. However, he said that there was another one a little farther away and that it would be just like the first one.

The class boarded the buses with the same excitement that they had had when they came to school that day. Kiba, needless to say, was the only one who wasn't cheering or having a good time. The only reason he was looking forward to this trip was Naruto who was apparently sick. Kiba took a seat near the back of the bus and stared out the window hoping to see the blond come running up to the bus before it pulled out, saying that he was sorry he was late, and that his alarm hadn't gone off. But, Naruto never came running up as the buses took off. Kiba looked back at the school until it disappeared on the horizon. He then sat with his arms folded over his chest for the remainder of the trip.

-8:24 am-

The buses had pulled into the parking lot near the beach, and as soon as the doors opened, the students poured out faster than anyone thought possible. Kiba was the last on off, still feeling depressed from the lack of a certain sexy tan chest.

"Alright guys, we have about 2 hours and 25 minutes until low tide, so at 11 we'll all meet back here, ok? Now, I don't want anyone running too far off, stay within earshot, or at least don't let me see you wander off, I'd like to have that whole plausible deniability thing." Everyone knew that this trip wasn't about oysters or muscles or clams or whatever, it was about having a good time at the beach when the sun was nice and warm, and there was no one else around. A couple kids brought an inflatable volley ball, and made a makeshift court. Most of the girls spread a towel out on the sand and read a book as they sunbathed. Kiba, as one could imagine, was not participating in any of these activities. He walked along the beach letting the small waves wash his sandaled feet. He found a place that no one had claimed yet and took off his shirt, sandals, and shorts leaving only the bathing suit underneath on.

He walked along the beach enjoying the feeling of the sand against his bear feet. All there was in front of him was a lot of beach, a pier, and a lot more beach. Because the tide was going out, the columns that supported the pier were starting to become visible, it looked like a place where kids would go when they cut school and wanted to get high. There wasn't anyone getting high, but there did appear to be someone laying facedown on a towel after falling asleep while reading a book. Kiba kept walking until he noticed something. The book the man was reading looked oddly familiar. He walked over carefully so as not to wake whoever he was. He had to get on all fours to see the cover. When he saw the title he nearly had another heart attack. Remember Faster Longer.


	3. Chapter 3

The shock of realizing that the man on the towel was actually Naruto caused Kiba to fall backwards. He sat up and just stared at the blond, not really thinking anything. He was tense from the initial shock, but after a while, he calmed down. He got swept away in the sound of the waves crashing on the beach and seeing Naruto in such a peaceful state. He just sat in the same place watching him breathe in and out, and the waves crashing, and then receding. It was hypnotizing. His chest rose and fell as the cool breeze went through his hair, moving it back and forth. He took it all in, Naruto, the beach, the wind, the feeling of the sand on the palms of his hands.

Never had he seen something as peaceful as what was in front of him now. It was as if his daydream were playing out, but a hundred times better than he could have possibly imagined it. Kiba felt more relaxed than he ever had before in his life. There wasn't a care in the world so long as he sat there. All the war, death, disease, poverty, and other tragedies of the world all melted away on that one spot, at that one beach, in that one instance. It was only Naruto, and him. "Why can't it always be like this?" he thought. "Why can't I always feel like this?" Kiba got so lost in thought that he didn't even notice when Naruto started to wake up. The blond slowly opened his eyes, and the first thing he saw was Kiba. Kiba just sat there staring back, realizing that all of the tension and nervousness had completely disappeared. He didn't want to throw-up or cringe, he wanted to cry. He wanted to cry tears of happiness, but he had no idea why.

"Kiba?" Naruto said.

He couldn't respond, he was barely aware that there was a question. He had heard Naruto say his name, and it was so beautiful, like if he were to talk it would evaporate and would blow away in the wind. Kiba just kept smiling at Naruto.

"Kiba, what are you doing here?"

Kiba finally began to break out of his trance. "uhh...," he had suddenly forgot how to talk. His stomach had filled with butterflies, and he couldn't keep his mouth open long enough to form words.

"Kiba, are you ok?"

"Uhh... yeah, yeah I'm fine."

"What are you doing here?" Naruto asked as he scratched his head sleepily.

"The field trip is today. Hey, why are you asking me what I'm doing here? You weren't in class today, so why are you at the beach?"

Naruto realized that he had been caught. He hadn't been expecting to see anyone from school here. They were supposed to be at the other one, on the other side of town. "I... uhh..."

"Heh, neither of us can talk." Kiba thought to himself.

"It's really embarrassing."

Kiba cocked an eyebrow.

"I, uhh..., well I'm really afraid of large groups of people, like at parties and stuff."

"Ah..."

"Last night I just got really, well..., I got really scared, and so I decided to miss the trip."

"But, then why are you down here?"

"This is my spot." Naruto replied, gesturing to the scenery behind him. "This is where I come when I want to be alone." It looked like a good spot if you were trying to get some alone time. There wasn't anyone around for at least a mile, well usually, and the surroundings were mesmerizing. It was easy to get sucked in and lose track of time, as Kiba found just a short while before.

"I see."

Naruto suddenly stood up, spraying Kiba with sand. "Please don't tell Iruka-Sensei that I'm here!" He begged.

"Wha...?"

Before he could get another word out Naruto was down on his knees grasping him by the shoulders. "Please, don't tell him." Naruto looked at him with those deep blue eyes, they, like the ocean, were breath-taking. Kiba found himself gazing deeply into those cerulean pools.

"Sure, sure." Kiba replied, still staring into the blond's eyes.

"Thank you!" Naruto hugged him for a second, and it was _the_ best second of his life. Naruto's chest collided with his own. Kiba thought that he could even feel his heartbeat, until Naruto abruptly pulled away. "Oh, uhh... sorry." Naruto apologized.

Kiba just grunted. Then, Naruto stood up and started to pack his towel and book into his backpack.

"I've got to get going. Thanks again, Kiba!" Naruto shouted over his shoulder as he tried to put his sandals on while running off the beach. Kiba stared at him until he was just a dot on the horizon. He fell backwards on his back and started laughing. He couldn't stop smiling and remembering the feeling of Naruto's body against his own.

"Kiba! Where are you?!"

He sat up, and looked for the source of the noise. It was Choji.

"Over, here." Kiba waved his friend over.

"You missed the entire thing, man. The oysters and, whatever the hell else we were supposed to be looking at, I wasn't really paying attention."

"I'll recover somehow." Kiba said sarcastically as he stood up, his legs and back entirely covered in sand.

"We're leaving, come on, the bus is pulling out in ten minutes."

"Yeah, yeah." He replied as he brushed himself off. He hadn't actually heard a word Choji said, he was still thinking about Naruto.

-That Night-

"Mom, Dad, I'm home." Kiba yelled as he closed the door behind him. Akamaru jumped on his chest before he could even take his backpack off. "Hey there, buddy." Akamaru barked." Where's Mom and Dad, boy?" Akamaru barked again. "Dinner, huh?" Akamaru jumped down and ran for the kitchen. Kiba lazily followed him. Akamaru was barking and pawing at the refrigerator. Kiba took out some leftover meatloaf and put it into Akamaru's bowl. Akamaru couldn't get enough of his Mom's crappy meatloaf, "but whatever works," he thought.

Kiba went upstairs, locked the door, and collapsed on the bed. He fell asleep recalling the events of that afternoon in his head. He discovered from Choji that he was probably watching Naruto for three hours. He kept mentally replaying them over and over and over and over...


	4. Chapter 4

The waves crashed onto the beach as the sun began to set. The rhythmic sound of the tide coming out and the salty breeze, mixed with the smell of burning wood made an unusual, but pleasant aroma. He sat next to the fire watching the sun set for what seemed like ever. Just before the sun completely surrendered the sky to the moon, a male figure began making his way toward the fire. Kiba didn't even look to see who it was, partly because he didn't care, and partly because he was completely engulfed in the beautiful event unfolding before his eyes, the most beautiful thing Mother Nature had ever put on the planet. The orange and purple raced through the clouds as the very last sliver of the sun sank beneath the horizon. By this time, the male figure had reached the fire where Kiba was sitting, he took a seat casually next to him and sat silently until everything was washed in twilight. Kiba looked over to see the man still staring at the horizon, as if he were reliving it. The man slowly turned his head to face Kiba, a smile across his face. They stared at each other for several minutes, both taking in the others features. The man's smile widened as he rested his head in Kiba's lap. Kiba smiled back down at him and began to stroke his hair. He wound little locks of it playfully around his fingers, as the man continued to smile sensually at him. Kiba smiled back and slowly bowed his head so that he met the other man's face. They played with each others lips. Kiba sucked on the man's bottom lip and slowly worked his way down to his ear. At this point, he had taken his other hand and had begun running over the man's topless chest. He nibbled at the man's ears as the man let out low moans of pleasure. They met each others mouths again, locking their lips over the others and played with each others tongues. He explored the damp, warm cavern that was his partner's mouth. They continued to kiss until Kiba began to slowly pull the man's swim trunks down. He slipped his hands under it and grabbed his partner's butt, grasping it in one hand, as his other grasped the man's head, thrusting it forward towards his mouth.The man had worked his hands up Kiba's body, feeling his biceps and muscular back. He continued to slip the man's trunks off until there was only the slightest bit left on his waist. Kiba began to kiss the man's neck, and continued down his body, as his partner nibbled at whatever part of Kiba he could get his mouth on. He finally removed the man's trunks completely and began to head to his throbbing member. His partner let out moans of pleasure as Kiba drew ever closer to his SLAM!!

Kiba snapped up from his bed so fast, he was sure he had twisted his back. His sister must have left the house to go to work, leaving Kiba and his erection home alone.

-Monday Morning-  
-Five Minutes Before First Period-

Kiba was at his usual spot inside the building talking to Neji and Choji about what they had done over the weekend Kiba had conveniently left out the dream he had had. As Choji went on about some new grill that had opened on Sunday, Kiba spied a certain tuft of blond hair making its way through the forest of people. Kiba took off without warning, to follow said blond hair. Choji just shrugged it off, but Neji had the following thought

"Now that Kiba left, Choji's going to be talking to me. I hate pretending to be interested in his stories."

Kiba had caught up to Naruto as he made his way out to the courtyard. But, he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the reason Naruto had come to the courtyard. He saw the blond heading over to the fountain in the middle and approached a pink-haired girl. He pecked her on the cheek, and they walked off to another part of the building. Kiba was heartbroken, he was mad, he was upset, he was every negative emotion anyone had ever experienced and then some. As the bell for the start of first period rang, Kiba just stood in the same spot. His mouth hung open, and his eyes started to get a reddish tint to them. He staggered past the crowd of students making their way to class until he came upon a bench and sat down.

"Of course he's straight. What was I thinking? Why in the Hell wouldn't he be straight? I mean, if he were gay, that would mean that there would be a sliver of happiness in my life, and we can't have that can we? Why am I so upset about this? It's not as if we were going to get together or anything. Besides, it's a purely physical attraction, I mean he's got a sweet ass, but his personality is shot to Hell." He continued to rationalize as he stood up and walked out of the courtyard, out of the building, and headed into the city. "Fuck school," he thought intensely, "and fuck him! I don't need this kind of bullshit!"

Kiba made his way through the shops and buildings. He found an empty table in front of a restaurant that hadn't opened yet. He sat down and pushed his backpack underneath the table. He listened to his CD player until the batteries ran out, some three hours later. By this time, Kiba was feeling pretty hungry, so he got up and found a small restaurant not far away from the first one. He walked in, it appeared to be a Chinese-style place. He looked at the menu, ordered some Mongolian beef, and went to find a seat. He scanned the room and took notice of the occupants. There was an elderly Chinese couple sitting together arguing about something. There was a fat balding man sitting in the corner using his laptop, probably looking at porn. There was a woman with a cellphone, stilettos, a cigarette, and a Metropolitan in her hand. How she had gotten such a drink at a small Chinese restaurant was right up there with, why do women expect guys to be more complex than they actually are? Beer plus boobs equals happy man. He found a nice, empty seat that was far enough away from the fat guy, that he wouldn't be creeped out, and far enough away from the old chinese couple so that he couldn't hear their argument. Kiba shoved his backpack under the table and sat down on something hard.

"Couldn't go the extra mile for cushions?" he thought.

He felt underneath him and found that there actually was cushioning. He must be sitting on something then. He sat up and pulled out what looked like a wine menu the case of the metropolitan in the chinese shop was about to be busted wide open. He opened it up and found several hundred pages worth of fine print. He wasn't much of a wine enthusiast, but he knew enough to know that this was not a wine menu. He looked at a passage on the page he had opened the book to so that he could determine just what kind of literature it was that found his butt so attractive.

"Now, if you remember in chapter 8 (and I hope you do), I discussed the importance of protein in the stimulation of the right hemisphere of the brain. I am going to elaborate on that in this chapter, and tell you how you can alter your diet to help improve brain functioning and ultimately help your memory in the long-term."

"No... Fucking... Way..." he thought.

"What are you doing here?"

Kiba slowly looked up from the book, praying that it was anyone except his current crush. But, there he was, orange jacket and all...


	5. Chapter 5

Kiba stared at Naruto with his mouth hanging open, and his grip on the book loosening.

"Well, what are you doing here?" Naruto demanded.

"I, I'm uh..., wait a second, what are _you_ doing here?"

"I asked you first!"

"Getting a little childish now..." thought Kiba. "I didn't feel like going to school." Kiba lied. "What about you, Uzumaki?" He said in a harsh tone. He scolded himself for that, and for the fact that he had called Naruto by his last name _again_.

"I didn't feel like going to school either." Naruto said with slight hesitation in his voice.

Kiba cocked and eyebrow. "You expect me to believe that? You don't miss school unless you're throwing your guts up or something."

"I was sick, that's why I didn't feel like going to school! Damn, Kiba, what's with the 3rd degree?"

"You don't look, or smell sick to me."

Naruto hesitated again. Kiba was starting to think that this might be more than Naruto just playing hooky. "I got these rashes over the weekend," he said, lifting his shirt to reveal several red spots on his stomach, too big to be chicken pox or something like that, but Kiba had never seen a rash like that before. Naruto pulled his shirt down again, slightly to Kiba's dismay, he was enjoying the free peepshow.

"That's one weird rash, must itch like a bastard."

"Heh, yeah," Naruto chuckled, obviously fake, "it can get pretty annoying at times."

Now, he was convinced that this was more than just hooky, or actually being sick. As Naruto started to sit next across from him, Kiba noticed something. Naruto distributed his weight evenly on his feet at first, but immediately took the pressure of his right foot, and put all of it onto his left. Naruto winced, for just a second, as he tried to turn it into a chuckle. "What the Hell is going on?" Kiba thought.

The waitress had finally brought their food, the Mongolian beef for Kiba, and Peking duck for Naruto. She also had another metropolitan. Kiba turned his head to look at the woman wearing the stilettos, she had somehow managed to down two full glasses of the stuff in the short while he and Naruto had been talking. They ate in relative silence, and when they had both finished their food, they paid the bill and decided to go around town and see what there was to do.

Kiba had completely forgotten that he had come here to get _away_ from the very person he was now, apparently, going to spend the day with. As they walked, Kiba was sure to let Naruto walk ahead of him so that he could further investigate Naruto's leg. The blond had a slight limp, though he hid it well, it was still noticeable, if you knew what you were looking for. When Akamaru had broken one of his legs, his sister had taught him all about the leg muscles and how they worked, and he had seen Akamaru walk exactly like Naruto was minus the all fours thing for six weeks.

"Did you fall or something?" Kiba asked.

"Huh?"

"Your leg, you're limping, what happened to it."

"Oh, yeah, I tripped over the weekend too."

"That's quite an odd set of coincidences," Kiba thought, "the chances of getting a weird rash and injuring your leg so much that you had to limp, all in the same weekend, was very low." When they got to an empty street, Kiba ran in front of Naruto and confronted him. "What happened, Uzumaki?"

"I already told you, I got a rash and I tripped."

"Cut the crap!" Kiba yelled. Naruto flinched. "Those were not rashes, and you did not hurt your leg by falling down."

"Yes they are, Kiba!" Naruto grabbed his side in pain after yelling at him.

"Whoa, are you OK?" Kiba helped steady his friend, as he looked like he was about to fall over. Naruto was obviously in pain, he was biting down on his teeth, and his skin was starting to turn red. "Come on, let's get you down on the ground, come one. There ya go. You stay here, I'll get a doctor."

"No!"

"What do you mean 'No'? You need a doctor, and I'm going to get you one." As he stood up to find some help, he felt Naruto pulling at his pants with his left hand, his right was grabbing his side. Kiba looked down at the blond and was met with teary eyes. They weren't teary from the pain, that much was obvious.

"Please, Kiba. Please, just stay here with me." Naruto said in a soft voice. Kiba could barely hear him. He had to make a decision. Naruto was probably bleeding internally, but he didn't want to betray his friend. The entire time Kiba thought, not once did the fact that he had a massive crush on Naruto, and would do just about anything to get inside his pants cross his mind.

"Alright," Kiba said hesitantly, "but you have to tell me truth, ok?"

Naruto thought about this for a while until he responded with "Okay."

Kiba took off his jacket and put it under Naruto's head for a pillow before sitting down next to him. He lifted Naruto's shirt to take a closer look at these "rashes." There was a large purple spot right over Naruto's liver. "Holy shit, man, this is really bad."

"No, it's fine."

"Naruto, you're bleed internally. It's really bad."

"You promised not to call a doctor." Naruto tried to yell, but had to whisper through the pain.

"Listen to me," Kiba yelled, he grabbed Naruto's coat, "your life is in danger. If I don't call someone _right now_ you could die, and I'll be damned if I let that happen."

Naruto gave up and just continued to hold his side and breathed through the pain. Kiba called an ambulance, and in a matter of minutes, the sound of a siren could be heard in the distance. When the EMTs got to the scene, Kiba showed them the internal bleeding. They picked Naruto up and put him on a stretcher. Kiba got in with him. "I can't leave him alone." He thought. Naruto passed out on the way to the hospital.

When they got to the hospital, Naruto was rushed to an OR, where Kiba was forced to wait outside. He paced around the waiting room until his legs started to cramp up. He sat down and tapped the arm of his chair, despite the annoyed stares that were coming from the other members of the waiting area. After several hours, a doctor came out, his hands soaked in blood. Kiba stood up so fast, that he got dizzy and had to sit down. He stood up again, this time more slowly, and went over to the doctor.

"Well?" Kiba asked.

"You were right about the internal bleeding. He lost about a fourth of his blood by the time we got to him. We also found signs of trauma all over his abdomen. We think that someone might be abusing him."

"That's not possible. His father is a minister, and his mother is a... a... Well, there's no way he's being abused."

"Well, it's not my place to come up with that answer, all I can do is tell his parents that he's fine, and ask social services to look into it."

Kiba nodded, and the doctor walked away...


	6. Chapter 6

Kiba stared as the doctor walked down the hallway, back to the emergency room.

"Abusive parents?" He thought. "There's no way. I know his parents, and no way would they do that! He has to be mistaken. Then again, Naruto never did tell me how he got those wounds."

Before he could finish his thought, an orderly opened the doors to the OR and pushed the bed that Naruto was on down the hall. Kiba quickly caught up to it, and matched its speed. He looked at the unconscious blond. Just like at the beach, he looked peaceful, despite the fact that he had just had major surgery. The orderly wheeled him into room 312. He hooked the IV, heart-rate monitor, and other medical equipment up, then left Kiba alone with Naruto. Kiba took a seat in the chair between the bed and the window looking out on the metropolis as the sun began to set and everyone rushed home from work. No one seemed to care that there was a 16 year old in the hospital due to internal bleeding which caused him to have a near-death experience. He frowned at the window before closing the blinds. He pulled the chair closer to Naruto's bedside. He just stared at the blond for hours and hours. At 7:00pm his phone began to vibrate. He pulled it out of his pocket to see who was calling. The screen read "Home". He flipped it open and answered.

"Hello?"

"Where are you?!" said the worried voice of his mother. He hadn't realized that it was 4 hours after he typically got home.

"I'm in the hospital."

The words that came out of his mother's mouth after that were incoherent, as Kiba had to hold the phone at arms length so that he wouldn't damage his ears from her loud screams. From the few words he could pick out, he figured she had said something along the lines of "Why in the Hell are you in the hospital? What did you do? Are you alright? You better hope you're not, because you're gonna be sorry if I get there and find out that you're fine...!"

"Mom! Mom! Shut up!" He screamed into the phone. When it was safe to bring the phone closer to his face he continued. "Mom, I'm fine. I'm here because one of my friends had an accident today. I'm staying here with him."

"Oh..." His mom replied sheepishly. "Which friend? What happened? Is he okay?" It appeared that she had a long list of generic questions which had blanks where you could fill in the proper pronouns.

"Yes, he's fine now. He's probably just going to have to stay in the hospital for a few days."

"Thank God. So, which friend is this?"

"Naruto Uzumaki."

"..."

"He lives a block from our house?"

"..."

"Blond hair, orange jacket?"

"..."

"Annoying..."

"Oh! That kid." Kiba let out a long sigh, why was _that_ Naruto's defining attribute?

"Yes, mom, that kid."

"Oh, well come on home for dinner."

"No, mom, I told you that I'm staying here with him."

"He's got parents, doesn't he. It's not your job to stay there with him. Just come on home."

Kiba grated his teeth in anger. "I don't give a flying fuck if it's not my job, he's my friend and I'm not leaving this hospital until he can leave it with me. Got it?!" For the first time in his life, he had not only yelled at his mother, but also swore at her. The adrenaline that had caused that outburst was quickly turning into a cold chill running down his back. He prepared himself to move the phone away from his ear again.

"Okay, well just don't get in the way." Needless to say, Kiba was confused at the moment. Hadn't he just yelled at his mother?

Kiba hesitantly replied, "Ok, I won't."

"Be sure to come home and get a fresh change of clothes when you need it."

"I will."

"Ok, bye."

"Bye..."

-Later That Night-

Kiba was in his biology class, Iruka-sensei had hit his desk and woke him up.

"Kiba! Stop falling asleep!"

He just grunted and lazily lifted his head from his desk.

"Now, as I was saying, Naruto has a very irregular heart."

Kiba looked at the blackboard and saw a picture of the blond on it. "What the hell?"

"He doesn't like much of anyone except for a select few people. Our sleepy comrade being one of them." The class started to laugh and turned to face him. He started to blush, then he realized that the entire class was Naruto. Where Neji sat, there was Naruto, where Shino sat, there was another Naruto. When he looked back at the front of the room, even Iruka had turned into Naruto. They all laughed, and then they started chanting "Kiba! Kiba! Kiba!"

He opened his eyes and was blinded by a light. He was in the hospital last he remembered. He must have fallen asleep. He lifted his head to find Mrs. Uzumaki standing over him. He had fallen asleep with his head resting on Naruto's bed while the rest of his body was in the chair.

"Kiba?" Mrs. Uzumaki had shaken his shoulder until he had woken up. "Hey, Kiba." She said in a hushed voice.

"Oh, hi Mrs. Uzumaki."

"What are you doing here, honey? It's past 11."

"I was with Naruto when they took him to the hospital, and I decided to stay with him."

"That's very sweet of you, honey. But, I don't want your mother to get worried about you."

"Oh, it's alright Mrs. Uzumaki, I called her a while ago and let her know where I was."

"Oh, I see. Well we just got the phone call a few minutes to go. My husband was preaching, so neither of us were near a phone. We just stopped in to pay him a visit."

"Oh, ok." Kiba wasn't really sure why they were telling him this, but he didn't mind.

"We're going to go home for the night, would you like us to drop you off at your house?"

"No, but thanks. I don't want him to be alone when he wakes up."

"That's very nice, honey." Mrs. Uzumaki gave him a big smile and a pat on the head. He could just make out the sound of Mr. Uzumaki's voice outside of Naruto's room. Mrs. Uzumaki saw him staring at the door and answered the question that Kiba hadn't asked. "Mr. Uzumaki is just 

talking to a doctor, dear." Kiba could see through a small crack in the door. He could barely make out a woman in a blue pantsuit stand outside the door. Since Mr. Uzumaki wasn't a woman, then she must be the 'Doctor' that he was talking to. But, last time Kiba checked, doctors didn't wear blue pantsuits.

"It must be the service worker." He concluded silently in his mind. The two had finished their conversation and Mr. Uzumaki walked in, in full pastor attire. "Oh, you're awake. Hello Kiba." The man said, in a slightly annoyed voice. Having someone accuse you of hitting your child could do that to a guy.

"Hello, Mr. Uzumaki."

"Do you need a ride back home, Kiba?"

"He said that he wanted to stay here, honey." Mrs. Uzumaki answered for him.

"Alright, well if he wakes up before we get back, tell him we said hi." With that, the two left the room.

"Your son is in the hospital, and your message to him is 'Hi'? That doesn't make any sense." Kiba thought. He heard sniffling, probably from another room. The couple had left the door open, so he got up and closed it.

A teary voice behind him asked "Are they gone yet?"...


	7. Chapter 7

Kiba turned around, expecting to see Naruto asking the question, but when he looked, all he saw was a sleeping blond. He walked over to his bedside; he had been asleep the entire time. Kiba convinced himself that he imagined the voice. For the third time in four days, he found himself staring at the unconscious blond boy. I have explained how Kiba feels when he stares at Naruto, especially when he is unconscious, so I will spare you the unnecessary text.

He sat down on the side of the bed. Kiba wished that he could tell him about how he felt, how he was tearing himself apart inside, how Naruto had ruined his life! No, he hadn't ruined his life. He just put a spin on it. But, if he could go back in time and choose whether or not to have this experience again, these feelings for the boy in front of him, or if he had the chance to alleviate himself of the events of the past few days, what would he do? That was a question to ponder at another time, for now all he wanted to do was get all of this off of his chest. He wanted to tell Naruto everything. However, that wasn't possible, as the blond was unconscious, or was that better? Kiba could say all the things he wanted to say, but without having to deal with the possible reactions.

"Uh... hey, Naruto." He was extremely shy at first, it seemed weird to talk to a sleeping body as if they were fully awake and attentive. "I've uh... I've been wanting to talk to you for a while now." This was stupid, he looked like an idiot. But, as time went on, it felt better, so he continued.

"I've had a crush on you for a month now. Not to say that I'm gay, but, then again, that's not to say that I'm not. Look, I just wanted to tell you so that I could finally get to sleep at night, you know? I mean, I stay up every night thinking about you. I can't stop feeling," Kiba searched for the right word, "attracted... to you. It's not even that you're, well gorgeous..." 'That was stupid.' He scolded himself. "It's that, for some reason I want to be with you, and it doesn't make any sense."

Kiba got off the bed and started pacing around the room, completely oblivious to the fact that he was simply talking to himself.

"I don't know how much more of this I can take, Naruto. I wake up, and all I can think about is you. I watch TV, but all I think about is you. Jesus Christ! I can't do anything without thinking about you, and how much I love you, and how much I want you." Kiba started talking louder and louder. "And, that's not even the worst part. When I think about how much I love you, I immediately become so damn happy. That is, until, I realize that I can never have you. It comes hurtling at me like a fucking cinder-block! I mean, you try waking up everyday and thinking 'God, I love Kiba Inuzuka, but I can never have him.' It's not easy, I'm surprised that I haven't done something really stupid yet."

Naruto started squirming under the blankets. 'Oh, God, did he hear me?' Kiba thought.

"Naruto... are you awake?" He continued to move under the covers, but he didn't say anything. "Hello?"

The boy shot straight up out of his bed and ran to the bathroom. Kiba almost had a what is it now, third? heart attack. When he recovered, he headed over to the bathroom where the blond had put his head under the faucet and let the cold water pour down his face.

Kiba stared as the boy panted, his face was completely red. "Naruto?" He spun around completely, almost hitting his head on the faucet, when he heard Kiba.

"Kiba? What are you doing here?"

"I was with you when you collapsed, remember? Way back in chapter 5"

Naruto just stared at him blankly. Apparently he didn't remember much before he passed out. "I have no idea what you're talking about. I collapsed? Wait a second." He looked around the room, then down at the hospital gown he was wearing. "Where am I?"

"You're at a hospital."

"What?! Why?!"

"You collapsed earlier today due to massive internal bleeding. I was with you when you passed out, and I called an ambulance. You were in the OR for over two hours, they said that you lost a quarter of your blood, and that if I had called just a few minutes later, it may have been too late."

"Oh, God." Naruto grabbed his head. Was he remembering? The blond squatted next to the toilet and threw up.

'I really wish I hadn't seen that."

Kiba ran over and sat down next to him. He put his hand on his back. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. I just woke up with a fever."

Kiba felt Naruto's forehead. He was burning up, must have been at least 103 degrees. "That's a pretty big fever, I'll go get a nurse."

Naruto nodded, and Kiba ran out of the room, and down the hallway to the nurse's station. There was a black woman sitting at a desk, reading a magazine. "Ma'am, I need some help." She looked up from her magazine, and immediately went around the desk and down the hall to Naruto's room. She was halfway to the room before his brain even registered that she had gotten up. Kiba followed her back to room 312. She was in the bathroom, with the blond. She felt his forehead too.

"That's a bad one, sweety. Come on, let's get you back in bed." She guided a still nauseous Naruto back to his bed, all the while he held his stomach, his face had turned from a deep red, to a ghostly pale color.

'That can't be healthy.'

The nurse went to a cabinet next to the bed and pulled out a thermometer. She told Naruto to put it under his tongue while she went into the bathroom to pull out some ice packs. When she got back, she took the thermometer from Naruto and read it. It must have been bad judging by the look on her face.

"Is he going to be alright?" Kiba asked, more nervously than he had intended.

"He's got a fever of 104. He needs to stay in bed, keep this pack on his head for a while, and make sure he eata a lot of ice chips." She was answering Kiba's question, but she stared straight at Naruto.

"So, he'll be ok?"

"Yes, dear, he should be fine. It won't be the most pleasant night the poor thing's had, but he should be feeling better in the morning."

"Alright, I'll be sure to take care of him."

The woman looked at Kiba for the first time since he asked for her help. "Are you related to him?"

Kiba was desperately trying to find an answer when Naruto chimed in and said, "He's ok. He's ok. He's my friend, he was the one who called the ambulance for me." He winced in pain. It obviously hurt for him to talk

"Alright," she said hesitantly. As she walked out of the room she said, "let me know if you need any help, honey." She closed the door behind her.

Kiba was still staring at the door when Naruto started to talk to him. "Kiba," he said in a hoarse voice, "how long have you been here?"

"Since this afternoon."

"Has anyone called my parents?" He coughed.

"Yeah, they came by a little while ago." He didn't want to tell him that his parents barely cared that their son was in the hospital, so he lied in order to protect the boy's feelings. "They stayed here for a few hours, your mom seemed pretty upset, and I think your dad was too, although he didn't really show it. He just sat there, staring at the floor."

It appeared that he had seen through Kiba's lie. He laughed and said, "You don't have to lie for them, Kiba. My parents couldn't care less about me. I'm used to it."

Kiba became infuriated. How can you be ok with your parents not loving you? That was just... just plain unacceptable. "Why don't they love you then?"

"Heh, you wouldn't want to hear it." Naruto chuckled. Though, it seemed odd to laugh in a situation such as this.

"What are you talking about? Of course I want to hear it."

Naruto furrowed his brow as he pondered whether or not to tell Kiba the reason for his parents' lack of love.

"I'm telling you, Naruto, I honestly want to hear it."

Naruto sighed, and said, "alright." "You know how my dad's a pastor and stuff?"

"Yeah."

"Well, you see, lately I've been, well, I've been unsure."

"Unsure of what?"

"Well, for about a year now, I've uh, well I've had to consider the possibility that I may be... well," he paused.

"What?"

"Well, that I may be gay."


	8. Chapter 8

Kiba's eyes widened. Had he heard him correctly? Did he misunderstand him? This wouldn't be the first time that happened. He once misunderstood Naruto in the courtyard at school. Kiba gulped. He started to sweat.

'Why am I sweating? I'm not nervous. Am I uncomfortable...?' one side of his mind said.

'Why does it matter?! Naruto's gay! What the hell is wrong?' the other replied.

'Well, he's obviously upset about it. I mean, his parents are probably beating him for it. Now is _not_ the time to try and get into his pants!'

'He's susceptible now. He's confused...'

'Shut up! I don't want to have sex with him just because I can, or out of pure physical lust. I want to have sex with him because I love him.'

'Well, la-dee-da!'

'The hell is that supposed to mean?'

As the two metaphorical halves of his mind put up their metaphorical "dukes," Kiba sat on the bed staring at Naruto. He was completely ignoring the two voices in his head who were, by now, using swords and maces to beat the other to death. The blonde stared back at him, with a shimmer of regret in his eye. Kiba knew that he hadn't moved for a few minutes. He must be coming off as un-accepting.

He had to do _something_. Naruto's face looked more sad and worried every second.

So, he smiled...

The two warring halves of Kiba's brain looked up and, in unison, said "What in the _hell_ was that?"

He was afraid that he had done something wrong. But, he noticed that the sadness in Naruto's eyes slowly dissipated.

The two had a silent conversation in a second. A thousand pages of dialog passed through each others eyes in the span of that single second. That single... minuscule... insignificantly small amount of time, was all that they needed to have a conversation that would take other people five lifetimes to even start. Kiba was able to completely enter Naruto's mind through his eyes. It was as if his own mind, his own consciousness had traveled to Naruto's body. He explored every crevice of the blonde's mind. He could feel Naruto doing the same in his mind. They were the same entity, the same consciousness... for that one second.

Kiba felt the pain that Naruto had endured, from his parents, from his teachers, and even from his friends. The blonde began to relax, sure that he hadn't made a mistake in telling Kiba his secret.

"Thanks..." Naruto said as a small smile began to form on his face.

Still unsure what to say, Kiba just nodded, put his hand on Naruto's shoulder, and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"So... was it obvious," Naruto asked.

"No, no, not at all," Kiba responded. While it was somewhat pleasant news, it was also confusing. All the events that had occurred over the past few days just didn't add up. "So, why were you _really _at the beach?"

He looked a little shocked, but quickly recovered and responded. "Exactly what I said I was doing. It's my personal place."

As selfish as it seemed, Kiba wanted answers, so he pursued the question. "Well, why weren't you at school that day then?"

The blonde sighed and replied, "My dad came home drunk the previous night. He started to yell and I knew that if I stuck around then I would end up getting a shiner." He let out a nervous chuckle.

Kiba gulped. "And, those bruises aren't from tripping, are they?"

Naruto paused and said quietly, "no."

"You need to get out of that house, Naruto."

"What?!"

"You're father is abusing you, you can't stay there. It's not safe."

"He's a good man," he started to cry.

"A good man doesn't hit his son!"

"He's a good man," Tears started to stream down his face, "He doesn't mean it, Kiba. He's always drunk when he does it." Through the gasps for breath he cried, "He doesn't... he doesn't mean... he doesn't..." His words became incoherent as his sobs melded with the words his mouth tried to form.

Kiba sat on the bed and gathered the blonde's body in his arms and let him cry on his shoulder.

After 10 minutes or so, Naruto had stopped crying, but Kiba continued to hold him. He found it impossible to let go of the boy that he had been pining after for so long. It was a long time before he realized that Naruto had fallen asleep in his arms. Now, it was his turn to cry...

-The next Morning-

Kiba woke up while the sun was still rising. It was early, that much was obvious. But, without a clock, it was impossible to tell the exact time. He took a few seconds to remember where he was. He had fallen asleep with his torso next to Naruto's sleeping body, and half his body in the chair next to the bed. Needless to say, his back was killing him. He stood up to stretch when he noticed that there was a tray of food on the other side of Naruto's bed. That wasn't what interested him, though. What interested him was the fact that there were _two_ trays, even though there was only one patient in the room.

'Must've been the nurse from last night,' he concluded.

Despite what he had been told about, Kiba found that the hospital's pancakes tasted pretty good. The orange juice, however, was half frozen. Having an orange slushie at dawn seemed a little... odd. He remembered the conversation he had had with his mother on the phone the previous night, and how she had told him to come home for a change of clothes. That was definitely not a bad idea.

'Naruto isn't going to wake up anytime soon,' he thought as the boy turned onto his side in his sleep. So, Kiba made the trek back to his house. He rarely came to this part of the city, so he had to guess the roads to take, but he didn't mind the time that would be added to his walk. He needed time to collect his thoughts. He put his hands behind his head and walked down the street leading to Little Italy. Some of the older people were already wide awake and outside. There was a woman beating her carpets with a tennis racket. Next door to her was an old man reading the newspaper. The next apartment had a swing on the porch, and in it there was an elderly man and woman, apparently his wife. The two just sat and watched the clouds, the birds, the sun, and whatever else nature's theater had. As he continued walking, he found that he envied that couple. They had found each other and got to spend the rest of their lives with each other. Besides that, they weren't seen as 'odd' or 'homo' or 'queer' like he and Naruto were. Not to say that he was admitting to being gay or anything.

He got to his house about an hour after leaving the hospital. His parents had both gone and his sister was nowhere to be found. He hurried upstairs and took a shower. When he got out, however, he was greeted with the familiar feeling of Akamaru jumping on his chest.

"Oh, hey buddy." He sat down on the floor and let Akamaru lay on his lap. It was at this point that he became aware of the fact that he had no clothes on. He normally would've gotten up and put some pants, or at least a towel, on. But, he had been neglecting Akamaru for the past couple of days, so he felt like he owed him some time. The little dog rested his head on Kiba's thigh and curled up in his lap. He made a soft whining noise. It was times like these that made Kiba wish that life was simple. No chasing around a guy who turned out to be gay and probably abused. No trying to determine whether or not he himself was gay. Just sitting and spending time with his oldest, and most loyal, friend in the world. After forty-five minutes, he gently lifted Akamaru off of his lap and put him down on the rug in the bathroom. He got up to go get dressed, but when he came to the doorway of the bathroom, he stopped. He turned around and gave Akamaru a kiss on the head. He felt really bad for not paying more attention to him, but unfortunately, life wasn't as simple as it should be. He made a silent promise to spend more time with his friend when he had the time. But that, however, was not now. Now, he had to get back to the hospital...


	9. Chapter 9

Kiba was halfway out the door when he thought that Naruto may also need a change of clothes, so he went back into his room and found some jeans and a T-shirt that he guessed to be about the boy's size. He put them in a plastic bag and headed back to the hospital.

He got to the lobby, went into the elevator, and pushed the button for the third floor. When he got out he found the nurse from last night getting ready to leave the nurse's station.

"Hey, baby. How's your friend feeling this morning," she asked.

"Don't know," he replied, "he was asleep when I left a couple of hours ago."

"Oh, well tell him that I hope he feels better, sweety."

"I will."

She went inside the elevator and waved goodbye as the doors closed. Kiba made his way down the hallway to 312. He could hear someone's TV on in one of the other rooms. It sounded like a bad action movie from the '80s.

'People are still sleeping, jerk.' He thought to himself.

As he got closer to Naruto's room, the sound got louder.

'Don't tell me that that's coming from his room.' He sighed heavily.

When he reached the door of the room, the sound was at is peak. He sighed again before opening the door. The bed was empty, 'he must be in the bathroom,' he thought. He put the plastic bag on the chair and found the remote and pointed it at the TV only to find that it was off. 'That's weird, sounded like it was coming from this room.' He put the remote down on top of the bed. He noticed out of the corner of his eye that there was a black sports jacket on the floor next to the bed.

'Who's is this?'

He heard a loud crash.

'That's not from a TV. It sounded like it came from the bathroom.'

"Naruto, are you okay?" he asked.

There was another loud crash. Kiba knocked. "Naruto, I'm coming in," he said.

He slowly opened the door to find that the shower curtain was mostly on the floor, the carpet was in an odd opsition and the mirror was broken. After a fraction of a second, all of Kiba's questions were answered. There was a man, reeking of booze, in the bathroom shouting at a blond huddled in the corner.

"How could you do this to me, you faggot?!" Naruto's father yelled.

"Hey, get out of here!" Kiba yelled.

Mr.Uzumaki turned on Kiba and hit him in the face with his broad fist. "No one asked you, faggot!" He could smell his breath halfway across the room, he was clearly drunk. The pastor returned his attention to the blonde and continued to hit him. Kiba got up and charged at the man, slamming him into the wall. The taller man retaliated immediately, shoving Kiba into the mirror. Naruto, all the while, huddled in a corner, helpless and clearly crying.

Kiba got off of the glass covered floor to see that this time, the man wasn't going to count him out like he had before. He had put his foot down hard on Kiba's ribcage. Kiba grabbed his stomach in pain. The next kick was right ontop of his back, which sent him rolling across the floor, collecting deep cuts, and ending up on his stomach. Naruto's father turned Kiba over, sat on his chest, and grabbed his throat. Kiba tried desperately to get the man off of him, but he was just too heavy. Out of the corner of his eye he spied a piece of glass, big enough to use as a weapon. He picked it up and thrust it into the man's liver.

He rolled off of Kiba with a shriek of pain and onto the floor.

"Get out of here, Naruto!" Kiba yelled. The blonde looked up, confused. "I said go!" Naruto stood up and ran out of the room and into the hallway. The piece of glass was making a deep cut into his hand. He could see the purple gooey blood from his vein, and he was starting to lose feeling in his hand. But, he didn't care. This guy tried to hurt Naruto, and there was no way he was going to give him a chance to do it again. He brought the glass to the man's massive neck, ready to slit it open. Naruto's father stared at Kiba with anger in his eyes, but all of the will to fight gone.

"You're both going to Hell, you faggots," the man yelled.

"Well, if people like me and Naruto are going to be there, then I don't mind so much," and with that he punched the man in the side of head, effectively knocking him unconscious.

A security guard came in the room, took one look at the mess in the bathroom, and gasped.

He was still enraged, and not paying attention to the man in the blue uniform. The security guard came and tried to gently life Kiba off of the man's chest, but he wouldn't let him. It took several minutes before Kiba calmed down enough to even realize that there was someone else in the room.

"Give me the glass, son." A second guard held out his hand. Kiba looked up at him, then back down at the man he had pinned to the floor. He could put an end to all of Naruto's suffering right then and there, and he would have, had he not seen the boy in the hallway, his gown and face stained red, and his eyes filled with tears. He got up off the man's chest, gave the guard the glass, and watched as they rolled the unconscious drunk onto his back and put handcuffs on him.

The nurse from the night before, who he thought had left, was out in the hallway waiting with a kit and a bed for Kiba.

"Let me see your hand, honey." She said in the same sweet voice she had used the previous night, only this time, worried and nervous. Kiba showed her the bleeding mass that he was pretty confident was his hand. "Alright, let's get you cleaned up." She led Kiba down the hall to room 320. She put him on the bed and pulled up a stool. She put the kit on the floor and his hand on her lap. She took some gauze and blotted the blood. He could see the bone in his palm, it really was deep. The nurse stitched it up and gave him some pills for the pain she assured him he would have.

"You were fighting a man twice your size on a floor covered in glass. Believe me, you won't regret taking these." She got him in a gown and put him in the bed.

"I don't need to be in the hospital," he insisted firmly.

"Don't worry, it'll just be for a day or two. You'll be able to go home then." He didn't care about going home. He cared about being with Naruto. Partly because he wanted to make sure he was okay, but also because he wanted to be with him.

The nurse left with the promise that she'd be back in a few hours to check in on him. Shortly thereafter, an orderly rolled a bed into the room. Kiba looked at him curiously. 'What is he doing?' he thought. He put the bed right next to Kiba's and started to hook up various medical equipment.

His question was answered when a small, blonde-haired boy entered the room. He had bandages all over his face from where he had been hit before Kiba had gotten there. The orderly had finished hooking up all the equipment and left.

The longer the silence went on, the more awkward it got. What was he supposed to say? 'I saved your life so please fuck me?' The silence remained unbroken, but Naruto's upper body moved closer to Kiba. The blonde's face came within inches of his own.

'I'm going to kiss him,' he realized. He prepared himself, only to see Naruto's face go next to his to study the settings on the bed. He turned a knob and returned to his original position next to the bed.

"It gets cold at night, that should help keep you warm," he smiled.

A small, "thanks," was all that Kiba could muster...


	10. Chapter 10

-Ten Weeks After The End Of Chapter 9-

The April wind nipped at Kiba's unprotected ears as he leaned with his back against the trunk of the tree. The light drizzle dampened his hair just enough to saturate it, but not enough to make it drip. The wind let up for a brief second, giving some relief to his already-numb face. He uncrossed his arms from his chest and checked his watch. 6:34. He met Naruto every morning outside his house to walk him to school at 6:32. He was living with his mother, but even though his father was in jail, awaiting trial, he was still afraid that he would find him again. That's where Kiba came in. For the past ten weeks, he had been at Naruto's side every second of every day.

It wasn't until the first month had passed that Naruto realized that Kiba had a massive crush on him. It was Neji who told him. Though Kiba hadn't told anyone, Neji was just very observant. When Naruto thought back to the past weeks that Kiba had been by his side, he realized that not once had he made a pass at the blonde. Kiba was with him in his most vulnerable state, and not once had he tried to take advantage of it.

Over the next week and a half, Naruto began to become more and more attracted to his canine-loving friend. Tension developed between the two, though Kiba obviously had no idea what to attribute it to. It all became clear to him, though, when he was walking Naruto home one night. They had gone out for ramen one of the only things that got Naruto's mind off of his situation and were at the blonde's door. Naruto stared at Kiba, until he said "What?" in an impatient voice.

After a few more minutes of Kiba demanding to know what Naruto was doing, Naruto pushed his body against Kiba's, pressing his own lips against those of his friend. Kiba was caught off-guard, and was in shock to say the least. But as soon as he recovered, he kissed back. They allowed the others' arms to explore their back as their tongues intertwined. Kiba could taste Naruto's mouth, which was surprisingly vacant of ramen. Naruto would later tell him that it was like kissing a dog, to which Kiba would reply with a punch to the gut.

But, back in the present, Kiba was starting to get impatient. It was now 6:40 and Naruto still wasn't ready. He knew that it was worry that he was experiencing, but he had convinced himself that it was impatience soon after that fateful night. He found that it was extremely painful to think about what may have happened to Naruto, or what could happen to him, so he had to force himself to attribute his uneasiness to another feeling.

'You ever wonder who videotaped Neil Armstrong?'

'Uh...'

'No, I mean think about it. He was the first person on the moon, right?'

'...right...?'

'But we have footage of him jumping off the lunar lander.'

'...ok...'

'So who was videotaping him? Someone else had to have been the first person, otherwise we wouldn't have footage of Neil Armstrong, right?

'Right... Oh, look, my shoe's untied... over there.'

'We don't wear shoes, we're figments of our imagination. How is that even possible. Who's imagination are we figments of, assuming of course that we're figments at all. Hello? Where'd you go? All alone again...'

Naruto came out of his house as Kiba breathed a sigh of relief, or rather a sigh of impatience.

"It's about time," he said. Although what he really wanted to say was "Don't scare me like that you jackass!"

Naruto grunted in response. He started down the sidewalk to school.

"What took you so long," Kiba asked as he picked up his bag and fell into sync with the blonde. Of course, this was merely another way to answer his real question which was, "are you okay?"

"Nothing," he snapped.

"Must've been a lot of nothing, then."

"Couldn't sleep," Naruto responded to the question that Kiba hadn't asked. He put his hands behind his head and continued walking.

Kiba chuckled to himself, it was quirky stuff like this that made him love Naruto. Or rather, think that he was hot, no way was he in _love_ with another guy. No way. He was open-minded enough without trying to cram that in there. Naruto dropped his hands, letting them rest at his side. They continued to walk in silence. When they got close, they saw that there was a large group of men across the street from the school holding signs and chanting, though Kiba couldn't make out what they were saying. They had to walk past them in order to get to the school.

'Teacher strike?'

'How should I know?'

Kiba say that there were three policemen trying to get the group to scatter. One of them was calling for backup. As far as he could tell, they were chanting something about tags or bags or...

'Oh no.'

His heart sank into his stomach. His palms started to get sweaty. He stole a glance of Naruto. He was paler than a ghost, and his eyes wider than humanly possible. Kiba grabbed Naruto's hand and squeezed it. He rubbed the back of his hand with his thumb. It calmed both of them down a little bit, and Kiba was able to guide Naruto to the inside of the school. Once they were safely inside, Naruto ran off. Kiba followed him into the bathroom where he found the blonde hunched over a toilet bowl vomiting. Ironically enough, it was the same toilet that he had used after a chance encounter with Naruto just a few months prior. Kiba ran over and put his hand on Naruto's back. The blonde started to cry. Kiba wrapped his arms around his friend. It was an impossibly painful feeling to see him cry. He was infuriated, worried, distressed, and a plethora of other feelings. The red anger and the blue sorrow, coursed through his veins. He made sure to stay out of his friend's line of sight, as he didn't want Naruto to see the tear running down his cheek...


	11. Chapter 11

"_...The group was dispersed just moments ago, when local law enforcement arrived forcing the group to break-up. We have the leader of the group here, excuse me, sir, why are you protesting homosexuality outside of a public school?_

_We were under the impression that it was a gay gym. We were told by one of our associates that there was a gym where primarily homosexuals attended at 1643 Elm Lane, it wasn't until the police arrived that we were informed that this was 1643 Elm Drive._

_The school buses and scores of students didn't seem suspicious at all?_

_Look, it's 8 in the morning, most of us are half asleep, and some of us drove over 50 miles to come be here today._

_And why is it that your group would drive 50 miles to protest homosexuality?_

_Well, we feel that homo..."_

The TV in the cafeteria continued to blare the rantings of the homophobic man, but everyone at Kiba's table had stopped paying attention some time ago. Only Naruto continued staring. He was still shaken up, just walking past those bastards had made him sick, imagine what would happen if he heard them try to justify their hate speech as "righteous" or "holy" or in any way correct.

"Hey," Kiba tried to get his attention. He tapped his friend's elbow resting on the table. "Hello, anyone home," he joked.

Naruto whipped his head around, "huh," he said with a questioning expression. As usual, he was completely oblivious to the fact that someone was trying to talk to him.

Kiba hadn't actually come up with anything to discuss, so he had to pull something out of his ass. "Did you get the math homework? It doesn't make any sense to me."

Naruto held a blank look on his face for a few seconds before he responded with, "oh, yeah, it was easy," and went to dig through his backpack for his textbook. Kiba had also thought that it was easy, but it was unfortunately the first thing to pop into his mind. Well the first thing that was an acceptable topic while in a public setting.

'Oh yeah...'

'Shut up, you perv!'

-At The End Of The School Day-

Kiba leaned with his back to his locker door, waiting for Naruto... again... He stared down the hallway that he always came down, waiting for his orange-clad boyfriend. As the last of the students began to filter out to the buses, a pair of hands covered Kiba's eyes.

"Guess who," a very familiar voice questioned.

Kiba snickered and said, "give me a hint."

Naruto removed his hands from Kiba's face and kissed him. They both smiled and giggled as their lips locked and their tongues danced in the others mouth. Kiba had to break away, Naruto was liable to get too frisky if not discouraged. Not that he didn't enjoy the friskiness, but it appeared that out of the two, only Kiba was aware of social boundaries. Sometimes he envied Naruto for being able to disregard those boundaries in favor of expressing his emotions in the purest and often most graphic way possible.

"Come on, let's get you home," Kiba said.

"But Mom!"

Kiba laughed, "come on, sexy." He put his arm around Naruto's shoulder and pecked him on the cheek.

-At Naruto's House-

Naruto pulled the house key out from his pocket and unlocked the door. He opened it and yelled "Mom!" as he walked inside. Kiba walked in, wiping his feet on the mat in front of the door, and placing his backpack nonchalantly on the floor. Naruto's mom was usually home at this time of day, but Kiba stayed to do his homework with Naruto. Partly because he sucked at math and science, which were, coincidentally, the only two subjects that Naruto wasn't failing, but mostly it was because he wanted to get as much time with his boyfriend as he could.

As Kiba sat on the hardwood floor taking his shoes off, a very happy Naruto approached him. His smile was big enough to be used as a white backdrop at Radio City Music Hall. It was kind of freaking him out.

"Naruto... what are you doing?"

"My Mom's not home," he said, somehow managing to maintain the smile.

"Yeah, so," Kiba said trying to focus on untying his sneakers and not looking at Naruto's mouth.

"We're home alone for the first time in weeks, and all you have to say is 'yeah, so'?"

Kiba narrowed his eyes to tiny slits and questioned, "what are you getting at...?"

"Oh, I think you know exactly what I'm getting at, Inuzuka," he said as he unzipped his jacket and promptly tossed it on top of Kiba's head. When Kiba removed the jacket from his head, he saw Naruto heading up the stairs. The blonde seemed to be able to sense when Kiba was staring at his ass because it was at that moment that he chose to turn his head around and wink. Kiba felt his face get warm. Kiba stood up, and took off his own jacket. He followed after Naruto, less hesitantly than he expected.

It was easy to tell which room was Naruto's, it was the only door he had ever seen in his life that had a giant yellow smiley face on the front of it. Kiba knocked and slowly opened the door.

"Come in," said a voice from the other side, which Kiba guessed was Naruto's attempt at being seductive. Kiba complied and opened the door all the way to find a topless blonde, with his pants undone laying on his bed. Kiba made his way over. He got on top of the bed on all fours, and made his way over to the blonde until their faces were only a few inches apart. Kiba lowered his head and let his lips meet Naruto's. The blonde wrapped his arms around Kiba's neck and moved his mouth closer. Both of them slowly working their lips, trying to make as much contact with the other as possible. After a minute, to Kiba's surprise, Naruto broke off the kiss. "Lose the shirt, dog boy." Kiba did as he was told and threw his shirt to the ground.

Naruto pulled Kiba down again and began to trace his muscles with his tongue. He put his mouth over the boy's nipple and began to suck on it. He could feel Kiba's body begin to tense up, and then start to relax. Naruto laid back down on the bed and started to wiggle out of his pants.

"Stop," Kiba said. Naruto was suspicious that this would be awkward for Kiba, and that he might not want to go through with it. But, to his surprise, Kiba finished his sentence with, "let me." Naruto smiled as Kiba helped him remove his orange pants. He threw them to the ground, and lowered his mouth to Naruto's abs. His tongue making it's way slowly downward. He stopped right above his crotch, using his hands to lower Naruto's boxers at a teasingly slow rate. Once they were down to his knees, Kiba stared at Naruto's length. As cliche as it sounded, it was everything that he had imagined it would be. Blonde pubic hairs camouflaging themselves against Naruto's tan lap. Kiba rubbed Naruto's already hard cock. In a moment of compulsivity, he took it all in. Naruto let out moans of pleasure as Kiba continued to suck on his hard member. Naruto put his hand in Kiba's brown, unkempt mane. Kiba could tell that Naruto was getting close because the moans were getting louder, and louder, and louder. Just as he was about to come, Kiba stopped.

"Kiba," Naruto moaned.

"Shh," Kiba whispered as he removed his own undergarments and flipped Naruto over, exposing his bare ass. The two small, round orbs of flesh beckoned to Kiba. Pleading for him to shove himself inside of them. He took one finger and pushed at Naruto's entrance, his moans resuming. He thrust his finger in, making Naruto buck against it. He moved it in and out, and then shoved his second finger in. Naruto continued to moan as Kiba removed his finger and put his cock in front of his lover's entrance. He could see Naruto nod ever so slightly as a signal for Kiba to go ahead. Naruto braced himself as Kiba slid inside. 

Naruto was so warm and tight, Kiba couldn't help but moan himself. He started to pump, slowly at first, but increased in speed. Naruto was moaning aloud, and periodically looking over his shoulder. Kiba had also started to moan, the feeling of Naruto's ass against his penis caused immense surges of pleasure to radiate all over his body. He pumped harder, both of them moaning louder than either of them though possible, Naruto came first, yelling Kiba's name, Kiba came right after him, shouting out the blonde's name.

Kiba pulled out and laid next to the sweaty blonde. He pulled the covers over them, not bothering to re-dress. They embraced each other, their softening penises rubbing together, as their legs intertwined. They rubbed their noses together as they both tried to catch their breath, eyes closed. After a while Kiba spoke.

"Naruto?"

"Mnh?"

"I think that I'm in love with you, Naruto."

The blonde opened his eyes slowly, to find Kiba staring at him with the softest look he had ever seen in another human being.

"How do you know?"

"I don't know..."

"Hmn, that's what everyone says," Naruto replied, closing his eyes again.

Several hours later while Naruto slept, Kiba was still awake, staring at the stars outside of the window above the bed. For once, the voices inside of his head had shut the hell up. But, as luck would have it, it was the one time that they might have been useful. Of all the questions that he could have been asked, Naruto had to ask him that one. It was one of the few questions that Kiba didn't know the answer to.

If he had been asked to name the constellations that he was staring at, then he could just look it up somewhere. If he had been asked what the area under a curve was, then he could go major in math in some godforsaken college and then tell him.

Of all the questions that he could have been asked...

Of all the questions, he had to pick that one. There probably wasn't a human being alive that knew the answer to that question. The stars twinkled back in response.

Kiba sighed heavily and admitted, "Naruto, I have no idea how I know if I love you." He searched for the rest of his thought as he stared at the heavenly bodies. He could see what looked like Venus coming into view. Why didn't Naruto ask him about Venus? He could have told him that it was named after a Greek god, the one of beauty or fertility or something like that. That they revered it as the most beautiful thing in the night sky. If he looked straight up, he should see... yep there it was. Polaris, the north star. Used to guide sailors home. Home to who ever was waiting for them. There wouldn't be anyone waiting for Kiba, though. When that ship arrived at the docks, he wouldn't be greeted by a lover. Was he supposed to go through life without someone to share it with?

"This is a pretty fucked up world. Not a lot we can do to change that. And you're right, I have no idea if I love you or not. But, theres no other person that I would rather find out the answer with." He kissed a dozing Naruto on the forehead, and turned over to go to sleep.

Venus continued on her celestial course, as Polaris shined brightly. And as a star began to fall, a single tear could be found on the cheek of a blonde boy lying in bed with the man that he would spend the rest of his life with...

The End


	12. Chapter 12

The Only Soul

"If it's all in history books, then why do we have to memorize it," Kiba asked himself as he made his away across the college campus to his dorm. He had decided to major in history, but he constantly wondered what he was thinking when he declared it. He pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. For him, the last class of the day was over and the sun was letting the last rays of daylight shimmer on grass expanse separating the heart of the campus from the student housing. Even though he was well into the spring semester of his sophomore year, he still felt new. Every time he looked out the window of his apartment onto the football field, he felt like it was his first day all over again.

Having passed the seemingly endless line of freshmen playing ultimate Frisbee, Kiba came to the door of the complex. The sounds of cheers and a TV could be heard before one even opened the door. Kiba had to fight the heavy oaken door for a second before it forfeited and allowed him entry to the boys-only dorm. Straight in front of him was the commons, where most of the occupants played pool or watched the game in-between classes. Kiba, however, was not one such occupant. He found himself constantly exhausted after every day of classes, and the hours of homework weren't all that refreshing either, so he usually came home and slept for an hour or two before he made his brain reboot and attempt the mounds of work that he had received from the guys he was paying thousands of dollars a year to make his life a living hell, or professors to you and me. Having to climb seven flights of stairs to reach the apartment wasn't all that much fun either. After what seemed like an eternity of walking and it always did he came upon apartment 709. He sighed a mental sigh of relief and turned the knob. He immediately dropped his backpack on the floor and stumbled over to the bedroom where a single bed could be found. He collapsed on the left side of it and had gathered a sufficient amount of comfort from adjusting his body on the mattress to start to doze off when the door to the apartment slammed open. Kiba grunted in anger at the pillow as he turned over and tried to get back to a comfortable position, but knowing who had made the noise, he wondered why he even bothered.

A short second later, a large mass jumped on the other side of the bed, next to Kiba. Another short grunt of frustration was followed by a voice shouting, "what's up, Kiba?" Kiba absentmindedly gave the source of the voice the finger, hoping that it would silence it for long enough to let him get a short nap in. But, once again, he wondered why he even bothered. "Someone's grumpy," the voice half-shouted right in Kiba's ear. Sometime Kiba felt that he did that on purpose, just to piss him off. Kiba constantly warned him that that was no way to get into a man's pants, but Naruto proved time and time again that that was wrong.

"Come on, let's get some lunch!"

The boy had not grown up at all in the past three years. He was still as loud, obnoxious, and thick-headed as he had been on the first night they had made out. "Naruto, if you don't get the fuck off of the bed, I'm going to kick your ass," Kiba threatened, though seeing as how he half-mumbled it into a bunch of blankets, he felt like it probably didn't come off as that frightening.

Despite all the things that Naruto couldn't do to save his life, manipulating Kiba into getting him to do what he wanted was not one of them. The blonde lightly kissed his grumpy, brown-haired boyfriend. "I 

don't think you've eaten yet, today," Naruto argued, "and besides, how bad could it be sitting on your ass, eating, and enjoying some good company for an hour?"

While it was true that Kiba had skipped breakfast that morning, it was the thought of staring at Naruto's drop-dead sexy body for an hour that enticed him the most. Not to mention that the waitress at the campus diner liked them, and always gave them a cup of free ramen, supposedly to share, but who was she kidding?

"Maybe you might get some good company when we get back too," Naruto flirted as he placed a hand on Kiba's waist and playfully moved it along the length of his tired roommate's leg.

Kiba mumbled something about being manipulative as he got up and stretched. Naruto was running down the hall to the staircase as Kiba lazily followed behind him, dressed in a gray sweatshirt and matching pants. By the time he made it to the bottom of the dorm he did not envy the idea of having to climb up them again in an hour Naruto was standing at the exit tapping his foot exceptionally loudly, earning some demands to stop from the group in the commons, which he ignored.

"You are so slow!"

"You didn't sit through an hour and a half of memorizing the order of the signatures on the constitution."

"Why'd you pick such a hard major then?" Naruto continued to bug Kiba as they walked to the diner, but despite the act he put on, he enjoyed every second he could get with him, regardless of the situation or of the consequences.

-A Hop, Skip, And A Jump Later-

Naruto busted through the door of the small restaurant and yelled, "Hi, Hinata," as loud as he possibly could. The timid waitress spun around, almost tripping over her own foot. She embraced the orange-clad student, still holding a coffee pot in her hand. He gestured for her to sit, waved another waitress over and ordered a Coke. Kiba laughed at the scene before him.

'Since Hinata is a waitress, shouldn't she be getting the Coke?'

'That's what's funny dumbass.'

'You're a dumbass.'

'Why am I constantly surrounded by morons?'

'Cause we all inhabit the same brain, dumbass.'  


'If I had a hand, I'd be giving you the finger right now, you dick!'

'Muahahaha...'

Kiba casually took a seat next to Hinata. He had learned the hard way that if you sat next to Naruto while he was talking, you were liable to get a few smacks in the face from his flailing hands that danced around the air as he talked. Kiba was never one for words, so watching someone like Naruto going at it as enthusiastically as he did was really a spectacle. Tuning back into the real world, he realized that Naruto was recounting the story of how his appendix had suddenly burst three years ago and how he had to stay in the hospital for a week, and how that was when he had fallen for Kiba.

Kiba knew, that he was recounting the story of how he had to be rushed to the hospital when the beating he received from his father had caused massive internal hemorrhaging. When he was taken to a psychiatrist to talk about it, she found that he had replaced those memories with ones that his brain had made up. Kiba was there, sitting next to Ms. Uazumaki as the doctor explained that it was called suppression, and that it was a way of the brain protecting itself from extremely stressful memories and experiences, and that as long as his belief in the new memories were never questioned, then it was unlikely that he would ever have to cope with reality. Only Naruto's mother, uncles and aunt all on his mother's side and Kiba were in on it. They had all vowed to protect the poor boy from the truth, and Kiba, being Naruto's boyfriend, bore much of that responsibility, which he received more than openly. Mr. Uzumaki's trial had been a secret from Naruto, as had the fact that he had been sentenced to ten years in prison without the possibility of parole or a shortened sentence.

It ripped him apart to lie to Naruto, but it would hurt more to tell him the truth. In the end, it was better to lie to the man he loved in order to protect him from the harshness of reality, which very few had the opportunity to escape. Hinata had managed to escape from the vacuum that was Naruto's talkative personality and get back to work. Kiba was pretty sure that she had a crush on Naruto, so he did his best to sugarcoat the fact that he was already spoken for.

-A Short Time Later-

The table was strewn with plates covered in crumbs, napkins covered in sauce, and glasses with ice melting in them. Kiba handed the check to the waitress along with his credit card as Naruto sipped out of an empty cup. Naruto had been oddly quiet throughout the meal. A few minutes after Hinata had left, he had just shut-up, not that he was complaining, but it was just odd. Naruto never kept his mouth shut, and for the past hour he had hardly said two words. Kiba warranted it important enough to investigate, as it would at least be something to talk about.

"Hey, Naruto?" He waited, no response. "Hello?" He noticed that the boy's eyes were fixated on something behind Kiba. He turned around to look out at the sea of people. The usual crowd, nothing out of the ordinary. There was one unfamiliar face, probably a transfer student or something. Kiba followed 

the blonde's line of sight and found that he was in fact staring at the new face. It was a man who looked about their own age with light skin and black hair. He was wearing white shorts and crossed his ankles under the table. "Who's he?"

"Don't know," Naruto responded, still staring, his brows furrowed.

"Well then why have you been staring at him for the past hour," Kiba questioned, slightly annoyed.

"I think I've seen him somewhere before, but I can't remember where."

Kiba looked again. He did remind him of someone, but he couldn't put his finger on it. The waitress returned, putting the check on the table and thanking them for coming. They stood up and walked out, all the while both of them had their eyes fixated on the man as they walked out the door.

They walked back home in silence, which was odd enough, but when Kiba looked over at Naruto, he found that he was staring at the ground, apparently deep in thought, and that was something to be scared of. "It'll come to you," Kiba said, staring at the horizon.

"I just know that I've seen him somewhere before."

"The human brain works on problems on an unconscious level long after you have stopped actively thinking about it. That's how you have an epiphany, your brain suddenly realizes something and alerts you to it."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Kiba surprised himself. He hardly ever payed attention in Psych. class.

"So you're telling me that if I thought about how to grow wings and then stopped, I'd eventually figure it out," Naruto asked, a little more serious than was expected.

Kiba sighed to himself and responded, "Yes, that's what it means."

"I wish someone had told me about that before," Naruto pouted as he kicked a pebble. "Maybe we can look him up in the student files or something," Naruto suggested as he continued kicking the pebble.

When Naruto got his mind set on doing something, although that wasn't very often, he didn't stop until he got it. Most people would call that stubbornness, but most people wouldn't be able of loving the silly blonde boy. So it was only natural for Kiba to see it as determination. "Alright..." Kiba said submissively.

They headed towards the administrative building as the sun began to set. Kiba had some pretty odd turn-ons, at least he thought so. For instance, looking over, seeing Naruto's face staring at the ground 

deep in thought, with the sun bouncing off of his tan, square jaw as his spiky blonde hair danced in the April wind made him want to jump on top of the boy and let the animal in him completely take him over. That was about the only difference between the two. Kiba would never do something as impulsive as that, he always had to calm himself down and convince himself that that was not a good idea. Naruto, though, would have been all over the brown-haired boy, digging his tongue further and further into his mouth, taking in every hint of flavor that made up the unique taste that only Kiba had. It was the same taste of the sweat that ran down his neck when he came home from his daily jog around the school. It was the same taste of the air around him when he was really mad or upset about something. As far as kinky turn-ons, well I doubt anyone would be surprised to find that Naruto considered it completely part of the norm.

"Matthew McConaughey," KIba randomly yelled out, getting some glances from the students walking around them.

"What," Naruto asked, obviously puzzled.

"That guy back there, he looks like a young Matthew McConaughey, doesn't he?"

"Not really... But, Matthew McConaughey is hot, isn't he?"

Kiba gave Naruto a sharp look indicating that he was starting to get jealous, which was not something that Kiba was prone to.

Having finally reached the small brick building, dwarfed by the massive science building, the duo walked inside, and Kiba let Naruto go in front of him, this was, after all, his crusade. Kiba put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes until only small semi-circles of brown could be seen. Naruto marched up to the counter, a little more dramatic than was necessary, and hit the bell, a little more often that was necessary. A petite woman with red hair and a soft look in her eyes came up to the counter and asked Naruto how she could help him.

"I was wondering if you could release information about a new student to me, just his name," Naruto asked.

"We're not supposed to do that," she responded quietly. However, she must have seen the small fire that Naruto got in his eyes whenever he was determined to find something out. It was very dramatic at this point in time, but a little odd when he had asked for the show-times at a movie theater, almost giving the poor boy working the counter a stroke. "But, I guess if it's just his name, then there's no harm in that," she continued, obviously intimidated by the intimidating, albeit attractive, form in front of her. She quickly returned with several files. "These are all of the male students that have enrolled since the beginning of the semester."

"Who was the most recent," Naruto asked impatiently.  


The woman fumbled through the files, finally finding the correct one. Let's see, the most recent male student to enroll was," she paused as she scanned the folder for his name, "Sasuke Uchiha...


	13. Chapter 13

There was a pause after the woman read the name before Naruto responded with a forced, "thank you," and left in a brisk walk. Kiba had to jog to keep up with him.

"What was that about?"

"What was what about?"

"That, do you know that guy's, Sake, or whatever his name is?"

"Never heard of him before in my life," Naruto snapped and pulled away from Kiba, half-running back to the dorm. Kiba scratched his head as he stared at the slowly diminishing figure of the one person in the world he thought that he had figured out.

He had never heard of that Sasse kid, so Naruto must have met him before they started dating.

'He said that he had no idea who he was.'

'And you believe that?'

'...Yes?'

'...'

'Well...'

'...'

'It's poss...'

'...'

'...No...'

Naruto wasn't one to have secret friends that Kiba didn't know about. Soon after they started going steady they both opened their lives up to the other. Kiba told Naruto about how he had been dared to get two tattoos on his face for an easy 20, only to find out several hours later that it was permanent. Naruto would tell Kiba about how he used to look at porn while hiding in the confession booth at church. It seemed very out of place for him to have skeletons in his closet. Unfortunately, this unfolding mystery surrounding the new transfer student would have to wait until at least tomorrow. Kiba had too much homework to do to be running all over campus.

The sun had set, so Kiba was forced to walk in the dark back to the dorm guided only by the lights 

coming out from the windows that faced the field. He reached the heavy oaken doors that served as the bouncers for the dorm, as most who wanted to break into it got so frustrated trying to open the front door that they just gave up and left, but it worked too well, as many who resided within had decided to move for that simple fact. Kiba made his way up the seven flights of stairs to the top floor. He came upon 709, and turned the handle. He found that the bedroom door was closed. He quietly opened the door to find Naruto curled up in a ball on his side of the bed fast asleep. Kiba quietly closed the door and went to get started on his homework.

"Let's see, page 378, number 1-39," he muttered to himself as he flipped through his textbook. "Question one, list the middle names of all the Presidents of the United states born between 1845 and 1872." Kiba sighed and started writing.

-The Next Day-

Kiba woke up with his face on his desk, a small puddle of drool had formed on Abraham Lincoln's face. Kiba got out of the chair and took a second to remember where he was. He had no classes on Thursdays, so he liked to sleep in. He lazily headed toward the door to the bedroom, finding that Naruto had left to go to his classes. That in and of itself was rare. Kiba undressed, putting on frsh boxers and a fleece jacket before sprawling out on the bed underneath the blanket.

A few hours later he woke up, only the top half of his torso still on the mattress. He got up 'for real' and put a pair of jeans on. He made his way downstairs, intent on finding out more about that Samme kid. Since he was at the diner the night before, Hinata was bound to know something. He took long strides to the small diner, trimming the usual five minute commute to three. He opened the door and scanned the restaurant for the timid waitress. He found her in the back, balancing five plates on two arms. After she placed them on the table, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her aside.

"Hinata," Kiba said, whispering so that no one would overhear.

"Yeah," she stuttered. Kiba realized that he still had a firm grip in the girl's wrist. He let go.

"Do you remember a guy from last night that doesn't usually come here?'

"I'm afraid not. Could you describe him?"

"He was a slender white guy with black hair, uh... white shorts..."

"Oh, I know who you're talking about. He's new I think."

"Yeah, I know, do you remember anything about him?"

"Let's see. He ate alone. Kept ordering pink lemonade and dinner rolls. I think he lives in the old dorm, 

near the art building, but I'm not sure."

"That's great," Kiba said, "thanks, Hinata," he waved as he opened the door outside. He had never been to the art building before, but he could probably find it.

-Two Hours Later-

As luck would have it, the art building was the one directly opposite the Humanities building, which was the one he was in the most due to his many historical and political classes. There was a small building near it which read "Co-Ed" on it.

"That must be it," Kiba thought to himself. He made his way over. Kiba was so used to opening the heavy oaken doors on his own dorm, that when he went to open the doors to the art dorm, the doors nearly flew off their hinges. Inside was a small desk with a bulletin board over it. He found the commons after some exploring and asked another inhabitant if (s)he he couldn't really tell which knew where Sasme Uchika's dorm was. After being embarassingly corrected, the she-male told him that he was in room 239. Making his way up to the second floor via a flight of stairs so fragile that if so much as a mouse walked on them, they would probably collapsed.

Kiba walked down the hall, trying to follow the crazy numbering scheme. 209, 207, 203, 208, 213 the owner had tried to make the 3 into an 8, 256. Several wrong turns and dead-end hallways later, he found room 239. He knocked. The slender pale man opened the door.

"Yes," Sasuke said in a voice somber enough to drain the color from anyone's face.

"Are you Sasuke Uchiha?"

The boy pointed to the room number. Underneath was the name "Sasuke Uchiha."

Kiba already didn't like this guy. "Mind if I come in?"

"You gonna tell me who you are first?"

"Kiba Inuzuka."

"Would you like to come in, Kiba?"

He wanted to punch the smartass's face into his tiny skull already. He did his best to hide the vein pulsating in his temple as he slipped past the small opening that Sasuke had made with the door. He closed the door before Kiba was inside, nearly leaving his fingers in the hallway. Sasuke gestured for him to sit on a couch that looked like it had seen all four of Roosevelt's terms. Saskue sat in a chair opposite the couch, his left leg on the floor, and his right leg up on the cushion. He put his hand in front of his 

mouth and brushed the hair out of his eyes, waiting for Kiba to say something.

"Do you know a boy named Naruto Uzumaki," Kiba asked.

"I used to, why?"

"How do you know him?"

"First tell me why you care."

Kiba made both of his hands into fists before answering. "Because the second that Naruto heard you were a student here, he refused to say a word to me and left this morning without leaving a note or saying goodbye or anything."

"How is it my problem that you choose your friends poorly?"

Kiba shot straight up out of his seat and grabbed the boy by the collar, hoisting his frail frame out of his own chair. "I can make it your problem if you don't start answering my questions!"

"Alright, alright," he yelled as Kiba's grip tightened.

"How do you know him," Kiba repeated, putting as much anger into each syllable as he possibly could.

"Back when we were kids, we used to hang-out together. As the years went on, the line between friend and lover got blurry, and we ended up fooling around once. As soon as his dad found out, he moved to god only knows where. I didn't even know that he went here, I swear."

Kiba stared into the pale boy's eyes and determined that he was telling the truth. He dropped him and ran out of the room, down the stairs, out of the dorm, across campus, across the grass field, into his dorm, up the flight of stairs, down the hallway, and finally stopping at room 709. He went in, gasping for breath. Naruto hurried from the kitchen to the door upon hearing his boyfriend's gasping for breath. He put his hand on Kiba's back, "Are you okay?"

"Fine," Kiba said, still gasping for air. Naruto guided him to the living room and had him lie down on the couch. He left and came back with a glass of water and a trash can. He handed Kiba the water and put a blanket over him, despite the fact that he had a fleece sweater on, and that it was the middle of April.

"You sure you're alright?"

"Yeah," Kiba replied, his normal breathing pattern re-established.

"Where were you? I got home, and I was all ready to make good on my promise of 'good company,' but 

you weren't here. So I ended up making a grilled cheese sandwich."

"I was at your friend's house."

"My friend? You mean Hinata?"

"No, I don't mean Hinata," Kiba replied harshly.

"Who are you talking about?"

"Naruto, is there anything you haven't told me about from before we met?"

Without hesitation, he replied, "No, nothing. Now, where were you?"

After several seconds Kiba lied, "Just out for a jog, guess I overdid it."

"You said that you were at my friend's house."

"Yeah, I turned around once I reached Hinata's house."

"But you said that..."

"Look, can we just drop it," Kiba yelled.

Naruto stared at Kiba's angry face and replied in a quiet, uncaring tone, "Yeah, sure."

For the first time in three years, Kiba had yelled at Naruto. He never yelled at him. He got mad at him sometimes, he got embarrassed a lot, sometimes he even got jealous, but no matter what, he had never yelled at him. Kiba rolled over on the couch, and cried himself to sleep...


	14. Chapter 14

Kiba walked down the obsessively clean, white hallway that the hospital maintained for its post-op patients. TVs could be heard through the light wooden doors. One of them was watching the news, another was also watching the news... news... sports... porn? He held the flowers he bought tight in his sweaty palm. He was nervous, but there were so many things to be nervous about that Kiba couldn't tell which one was making his hands sweat. Was it the fact that he thought he liked Naruto? The fact that he was most likely gay. Or, was it the fact that he was bringing flowers to a guy which, despite sexual orientation, was pretty sissy. He came to room 312 and slowly turned the knob. He could just make out the sounds of a conversation between Naruto and another male, whose voice Kiba didn't recognize.

With the door open and the room in full view, Kiba could tell who the mysterious man was. It was that prick Sasuke. He had the gall to sit in the chair that he had sat in for two nights at Naruto's side, not only that, but the jackass was flirting with Naruto.

"What the hell are you doing here, Uchiha," Kiba shouted angrily as he pointed to the pale boy.

Sasuke and Naruto both looked at him with a confused expression on their faces.

"What the hell are _you_ doing here? Who are you," Sasuke responded.

"I'm the guy who's been sitting next to Naruto for the past two days making sure that he was never alone," Kiba replied angrily. It was at this point that he noticed he was still holding a bouqet of roses in his hand and was pointing at random points in the room with them as he talked.

Naruto and Sasuke continued to look at him with even more confusion on their faces than before. They looked at each other before Naruto spoke. "Um, I'm not sure who you are, but this is my boyfriend Sasuke," he gestured to the pale boy in the chair, in _his_ chair, "and he's the one who's been staying with me. I think you have me confused with someone else."

Kiba stared at him in disbelief, "What are you talking about? I was with you at that Chinese restaurant when you just suddenly collapsed. I waited outside of the OR as the doctors fought for your fucking _life_. I saw you on a beach and you were asleep and, and, I was _just_ here. Like, just forty-five minutes ago!"

Sasuke stood up with an angry and worried look on his face and approached Kiba. "I think you should leave now," he said as he guided him towards the exit.

"But, but, but I was _just here_..." Kiba protested before having the door slammed in his face. He could overheard the ensuing conversation.

"Who was that guy," Naruto asked.

"I have no idea. It doesn't matter, he's gone now," Sasuke responded. Then, much to Kiba's dismay, he heard what was probably the couple making out. Kiba curled up into a ball outside of the door, the 

sounds of their kissing escalating. The bed creaked as Sasuke got on it. Tears started to stream down Kiba's face as he wished it away. He muttered incoherently as the sounds of Sasuke fucking Naruto filled his ears. The rythmic creaking sound continued as more tears streamed down Kiba's face. The roses in his hand died in a second and fell to the ground in a gooey heap.

"Naruto, Naruto, Naruto..." Kiba whispered to himself in-between sobs. "Naruto...Naru," he sniffled, "Naruto..." He started shaking violently, his body forcing him to open his eyes, though he wanted to keep them shut and cry. He heard Naruto yell out Sasuke's name before he awoke.

Kiba woke up with a cry. He looked around, it was pitch black. He was wet, he was very wet. He felt his forehead. He was covered in sweat. He looked down at his unclothed legs to see that they were so wet that his normally fuzzy hair was completely flat against his skin. A bead of moisture fell from his nose and landed on his lip. That wasn't sweat, that was a tear. He put a hand to his eye and found that he was sobbing.

"Kiba, Kiba, are you alright," Naruto asked, sitting up in bed next to him, his shoulder on Kiba's. Kiba looked over to see Naruto with a concerned look on his face. It took a moment for Kiba to realize that he had just had a bad, no that wasn't sufficient, a horrible nightmare. He put his hand on Naruto's face to make sure that this was real. He felt his sweaty hand against Naruto's soft, warm, inviting skin. It was real, he silently thanked God before he responded to Naruto's question.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm... uh...," he put his hand to his forehead again, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bad dream." Naruto smiled and pecked Kiba on the cheek.

"Well get back to sleep, you have class in a few hours."

"Yeah," Kiba muttered as he turned over and tried desperately to think about something, _anything_, besides that horrible nightmare...

-Several Days Later-

He had a lot of trouble getting the nightmare he had had a few nights before out of his head. He kept replaying it over and over, despite his mental protests. His brain seemed intent on making him suffer for as long as it possibly could, as if trying to get back at him for not imagining Naruto's sexy naked form as often as it thought he should.

Our brown-haired, dog-loving hero was on his way to the Diner that he and Naruto often frequented. However, today he was going there to apply for a job. Naruto's mom, who usually sent them money every week, had run into an issue. Apparently being a... a... uh... damn, what does she do...? Well, whatever it was, she didn't have enough left over to send to the two. As a consequence, Kiba had to get a job temporarily, and since the Diner was so close to his dorm, and he already knew most of the people there, it seemed like the natural choice.  


He entered the small establishment and casually walked over to the 1950's-esque bar and asked to see the manager. A second later, a tall man wearing black pants, a white business shirt, and a tie came out of the kitchen. He walked over to where Kiba was and took a seat on a stool, gesturing for him to do the same.

"How can I help you today," the man asked.

"I was wondering if you had any job openings available."

"Let me think," he closed his eyes and furrowed his brow. "We do need another cook on Tuesday and Thursday nights. Can you cook well?"

"Absolutely," he lied. He couldn't even make cereal. He burnt water, which he didn't even think was possible.

"Great, well I have some papers for you to look through. Please follow me."

Kiba followed him through the kitchen and into what looked like a freezer. When the man opened the door, it became an office which, despite its placement, looked very official. The man went over to his desk and looked through some drawers. Kiba noticed that the placard read "Paul," and the last name had been scratched off. Paul noticed him looking at the placard and explained, "I hate being called by my last name. Whenever someone call me Mr. Edwards, I think that my father's behind me. So, I tell everyone, which now includes you, to call me Paul, just Paul. And, I'm sorry, I didn't even get your name."

Kiba reached across the desk and offered his hand, "It's Kiba. Kiba Inuzuka."

Paul shook his outstretched hand and responded, "nice to meet you, Kiba."

'Is it just me or do-'

'Yes. Yes it is just you.'

'I didn't even say anything.'

'You don't have to, it's always sexual or dirty and I _never _agree with you.'

'Well, maybe I wasn't going to say something dirty, you ever consider that?'

'Fine, what were you going to say?'

'Thank you, I was going to say that if it doesn't work out with Naruto, there was a hot cook back there...'

'...'

Several minutes, eighteen forms, and one carpal tunnel syndrome later, Kiba had signed along all the dotted lines and officially worked for the KCU (Konoha City University) Diner. "How original. Name the school after the city, and name the restaurant after the school," he thought sarcastically. He was all set up to start working in two days, the current day being Tuesday.

On his way back to the dorm, Kiba found that after four days, he was finally able to get that nasty dream out of his head. Just the concept of working and getting a chance to clear his mind was sufficient to drive all the evil in the world to the back of his mind. Which meant that he now had time to attend to Naruto. He had been neglecting the poor boy's needs. Needs that needed to be addressed as soon as possible. He smiled wickedly...

-At Room 709-

Kiba entered the apartment to find that Naruto was watching something on how to improve your memory or something. "What does that remind me of," he thought. "Maybe I should see if he recorded it, I probably need it more than he does." He plopped down on the couch that Naruto was sitting, well not sitting so much as slowly sliding off, on. Naruto's eyes were glazed over, completely mesmerized by the show. Kiba tossed his jacket to the floor and lightly punched Naruto on the arm.

"What are we watching," he asked.

Naruto sighed an responded in a monotone, "nothing..."

Kiba casually slid over, closer to him, and put his arm around the blonde's shoulder. He moved his hand down Naruto's clothed chest, feeling his pecs through the light material. He gave Kiba a strange look.

"What are you doing?"

He put that wicked grin back on his face and raised his eyebrows several times. Naruto immediately knew what was going on. They simultaneously embraced each other and started kissing. Kiba removed Naruto's jacket for him and tossed it to the ground along with his own. Naruto then proceeded to take off Kiba's shirt. This would be first time they had sex in over six days. Anything more than a day was a dry spell for them.

They got up off the couch and made their way to the bedroom still kissing. They had mastered that within their first semester of coming to college. Naruto slammed the door shut with his foot before falling on top of Kiba onto the mattress. Naruto undid both his and Kiba's pants. Kiba pulled off Naruto's shirt leaving the two in only their boxers. Kiba moved away from Naruto's mouth and began to trace his 

tongue down the boy's neck, taking some time to suck on that one magic spot that made Naruto moan. The blonde jumped off of the bed to get some lube that he hid in his underwear drawer. He took of his own boxers and slowly slid Kiba's down as well. He put a generous amount on Kiba's shaft, and on his own entrance. He positioned himself over Kiba's throbbing member and slowly slid down. They both moaned in pleasure and discomfort.

Kiba grabbed Naruto's waist and squeezed his eyes shut as Naruto began to ride him. Moving his pelvis up and down Kiba's rock hard penis. He grabbed his own shaft and began to pump. Naruto continued to ride Kiba as he enjoyed the moans that he usually made, coming from his lover's mouth. Kiba began to buck back against Naruto's thrusting. Naruto joined him, in moaning, and very rarely did he get to make his macho boyfriend to moan with him.

They both began to breathe heavily, sweat rolled down Naruto's hair and chest. Kiba's palms got sweaty and found it more and more difficult to keep hold of Naruto's waist. It didn't matter for long. The panting got louder as Kiba yelled, "I'm gonna... I'm gonna cum!"

"Me too," Naruto panted as he gave one last surge of energy to thrust his ass down onto Kiba's member. Kiba came inside of Naruto just as the blonde came on Kiba's stomach. Naruto got off and fell down on the bed next to his lover. They lied together, both panting and gasping for breath as sweat continued to roll off of their bodies and onto the bedspread.

They put their underwear back on and got under the covers. Kiba embraced Naruto and let him fall asleep in his arms. Kiba too began to nod off. It reminded him of their first time together. He fell asleep with a smile on his face...


	15. Chapter 15

Kiba had just finished his first shift at the Diner on campus. When he arrived there early in the afternoon, Paul had told him that one of his other cooks had picked up the shifts on Tuesday and Thursday. But, being the kind person that he was, he offered Kiba the option of being a waiter on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Seeing as he had no idea how to cook, and wasn't particularly looking forward to working a hot stove, he happily accepted the new position. He had been escorted to a storage room filled with boxes upon boxes of God only knew what. Out of one of the boxes, Paul had pulled out a white shirt and green tie which he estimated to be Kiba's size. He was told that this was the uniform that waiters and waitresses were required to wear. He left Kiba in the storage room to change into his new attire.

He thought that there would be some kind of instruction, but apparently it was a "learn-as-you-go" type of job. He had to memorize the night's specials, which no one had ordered, and was just sent out to the wolves.

He loosened his green tie as he approached the male-only dorm, his black sweatshirt in the crook of his arm. Upon reaching the door to his dorm, he found that it was unusually difficult to open. It rivaled the now infamous oaken doors leading into the building. After several seconds of straining and pushing, he managed to push whatever obstacle that was in front of the door out of the way. He could only crack the door open a few inches, so he had to wiggle and squeeze through. He looked at what had been blocking the door to find several buckets of paint. In the living room were brushes by the dozens. Canvases littered the couch, and colored pencils lay on the floor in random places. The normally spacious bedroom was filled with books of Picasso, Davinci, Van Gough and all other matter of crazy artists. The bed had been torn apart and the sheet had been removed. The kitchen was slightly cleaner than the rest of the apartment, but not by any noticeable degree.

Upon reaching the bathroom, he found the source of the artistic whirlwind that had whipped through the usually neat apartment. A certain blonde was standing in front of the mirror with a blank canvas next to him. Surrounding the canvas were paints of all different hues, tints, and shades. The blonde appeared to be painting a self-portrait, though he couldn't tell for sure.

"What are you doing," Kiba asked. He had caught Naruto off guard, as the blonde jumped when he had said it.

"Wha... I... Uh... nothing," He stuttered, his hand on his chest.

"What's with all the paint," Kiba asked in a suspicious voice, his arms crossed.

"It's uh...," he smiled, still panting from Kiba's unexpected visit, "It's my new major."

Kiba raised an eyebrow. "Your new major? Since when do you like art?"

"Since forever," Naruto replied.

Kiba stared at him, waiting for the blonde to realize how stupid his comeback had been.

Naruto turned back to the mirror, "Why do you care anyway? It's _my_ major."

Kiba sighed, "alright, well can you tell me where the bed sheet went to?"

"It's a funny story actually."

"What kind of funny?"

He grinned wickedly, "you'll see..."

-Eight Minutes Later-

Naruto was still staring at the mirror, trying to perfect the bridge of his nose when a loud yell made him drop his brush into the sink.

"Naruto! What the hell did you do?!"

"Told you it was funny," Naruto replied calmly.

Kiba walked back into the bathroom holding the bed sheet. Only, Naruto had taken it upon himself to add a tie-dye effect to it, making it look like it came from a bad garage sale from the '70s. He twitched as Naruto pondered whether or not to call for help. Kiba solemnly walked back to the bedroom to re-make the bed. Kiba could never stay mad at Naruto for very long. It was those big cerulean eyes. When Naruto looked up at him with them, Kiba was helpless. Besides, tomorrow was a very happy day, and there wasn't anything that would get in the way of it.

After Kiba had made the bed, he made a few calls, read his credit card number a few times, and finally turned in. Tomorrow was going to be a good day, a very good day...

-The Next Day-

Kiba awoke to find Naruto's back to him. The sun was shining through the window in small beams, illuminating Naruto's beautiful form. He embraced him, fitting their two bodies together like pieces of a puzzle, and softly kissed his neck. He gently sucked on his collarbone until the blonde began to stir.

Kiba whispered into his ear, "good morning."

Naruto turned his head over and responded with a smile on his face, "hey."

They locked their lips for a short kiss. They pulled away and Kiba said, "I've got a surprise for you."

"Oh?"

"Yeah," Kiba chuckled, "as soon as you get back from class."  


Naruto hit him lightly in the chest and said, "tease." He got dressed, taking a particularly time to put his pants on, and left, leaving Kiba alone in the bed, still smiling.

A few hours later, Kiba also got up. He went to look out the window in the living room at the small figures of his classmates heading to and from classes. He could make out a couple walking down the grass field. The girl kissed her boyfriend as she ran off to her class as the boy stared after her. He couldn't see his eyes, but he knew exactly what they looked like. They looked exactly like his own did whenever he was parted from Naruto, wide, soft, and with just a hint of a tear. The blonde snuck up behind Kiba and wrapped his arms around the boy's stomach, making Kiba jump slightly. He hadn't heard him come in.

"What are we looking at," Naruto asked.

Kiba turned around and, trying not to let Naruto see his eyes as he responded, "nothing."

"So, what's this surprise?"

"Well, first we need to get a little bit more formal."

"How formal?"

"You have a shirt and tie?"

"Yeah."

"Then what are you waiting for," Kiba asked, a smile on his face.

-An Hour Later-

The duo had caught a ride on a bus and rode it down to a seaside restaurant. The entire point was to make Naruto think that this little expedition was the end of the journey, when it was in fact, only the beginning as cliche as that may sound.

The poor blonde fell for it, hook line and sinker. After they had finished their less-than-astounding meal, Kiba suggested a walk along the beach. The sun had begun to sink as the two made their way under a pier. On the other side there was a small fire going. Kiba led the blonde over to it. They sat down and talked as the sun slowly set in the distance.

Kiba had managed to coax Naruto out of his clothes and into a bathing suit that had been conveniently left behind. Kiba went first, per Naruto's stern request, and changed right then and there. Naruto was a little more shy and walked over to the pier, supports unprotected. After a few minutes he came out clad in only the bathing suit. Kiba sat cross-legged next to the fire. Naruto made his way over. Kiba stared at the setting sun, not even looking at Naruto. The blonde sat next to him and looked on as the sun sank below the edge of the world and as the last glimmer of red faded from the evening sky.  


He turned his head to Naruto to find that he was still staring at the horizon, like he was waiting for something else to happen. Naruto finally turned around to meet Kiba's gaze with a smile. He placed his head in Kiba's lap who began to play with the blonde's hair. Twirling little bits of it around his finger. Kiba lowered his head and met Naruto's lips. He moved his mouth up to his ear and began to gently suck on it. Kiba ran his hand over Naruto's topless chest. The blonde let out low moans of pleasure as Kiba finished with his ear and made his way back to Naruto's mouth. They let their tongues play with the other's as Kiba slowly and playfully began to pull his partner's trunks down. He slipped his hand into them and grabbed Naruto's firm butt, still letting his tongue run wild in his partner's mouth. Naruto had moved his arms over Kiba's body grabbing hold of his biceps. Kiba moved down his partner's body as Naruto kissed any part of Kiba that he could get his mouth on. Only a sliver of his trunks remained on his waist now. Kiba abruptly ripped them off and made his way down to Naruto's throbbing length, all the while his partner letting out moans of pleasure.

He kissed the top of it and slowly pulled it into his mouth, running his tongue over every inch of it. Naruto's moans got louder and louder. Kiba repositioned himself so that his body was in line with Naruto's. He started to bob his head as Naruto grabbed some of Kiba's hair. He bobbed faster and then stopped, leaving a panting Naruto unsatisfied. Kiba discarded his own bathing suit and flipped him over. His penis found the boy's entrance, he looked at Naruto for permission to continue. The blonde nodded his head in silent confirmation and Kiba entered him. Naruto let out a yelp, originally of pain, but turning to pleasure each second. Kiba slowly thrusted in and out, trying to find Naruto's prostate. The blonde let out a loud yell and he knew that he had found it. The entire world melted away, the ocean, the fire, the distant sounds of the metropolis, only he and Naruto existed. He continued to pump until he couldn't hold it anymore and he came inside of Naruto. His partner came at the same time that he had, spraying his seed all over the sand and his chest. Kiba pulled out and lay next to Naruto, holding his hand, looking up at the stars.

After Naruto had stopped panting, he turned his head to face Kiba. "Happy anniversary."

Kiba turned his head and looked into his lover's big blue eyes. After all these years, he finally knew how that dream had ended...


	16. Chapter 16

Naruto entered the room scratching his messy hair, still tired.

"Who was on the phone," he asked through a yawn.

"Doctor someone," Kiba replied, not looking up from the paper he was reading in the kitchen.

"Doctor who," Naruto asked, collapsing into the chair next to Kiba.

"Ecola, or Emota, or something."

"Enola?"

"That's the one," he said, using his left hand to point at Naruto, while his right help up the paper, his eyes never leaving the story on page 8.

"What did he want?"

"He wanted you to come into his office as soon as was convenient for you."

"Can it be convenient for me in three hours," Naruto mumbled as he layed his head down on the desk.

-Seven Hours Later-

Naruto had left four hours ago, and hadn't returned yet. This would typically be something for Kiba to worry about, but since Naruto had planned to drag him off to a performance of _Romeo and Juliet_, he wasn't so much worried as he was relieved.

Kiba had set the TV to a somewhat entertaining comedy and let the droll humor melt away his brain as he comfortably sank into the couch. There were things he needed to do, like homework, term papers, and studying for finals, but there was something that made Kiba's normally studious behavior transition to one of laziness. Maybe it was the fact that the end of the year was quickly approaching, or perhaps the fact that since he was doing so well in all of his classes that even if he failed to turn in the term papers and take the final, he would probably still pass with a "B."

After school let out in a week or two, he and Naruto would go their seperate ways until mid-July. It wasn't something that they typically did. Normally they rented an apartment in the city, found part-time jobs, and lounged around. They, of course, took advantage of the fact that they had no worries and used the low-stress enviornment to catch up on all the "fun" they had missed out on during the school year. However, this year, Kiba had to go on a month long trip to Rome to study the city where "democracy was born." There were of course worse places to have to spend a month, but to Kiba it didn't matter where he went. It was all equally bad if it took him away from his blonde-haired lover.

Kiba had failed to notice that as he let his mind wander, Naruto had walked through the door and had sat down on the arm of the couch. He had his arms crossed across his chest, not out of anger 

or frustration, but out of a lack of other places to put them. He had a half-smile on his face as he watched the only mildly-entertaining program that Kiba had settled on. When Kiba noticed that Naruto had returned he turned his head to him and asked, "how was the doctor's?"

Naruto shrugged, his eyes still on the TV. "It was alright."

"Everything okay," Kiba asked, in a somewhat less than concerned voice. He knew it was okay, otherwise Naruto wouldn't be sitting down nonchalantly.

"Yep. Just a check-up."

"Alright," Kiba nodded and returned his attention to the TV, hoping that Naruto had forgotten about the play.

"Oh, and don't forget; we're going to the theater later tonight."

'Damn it!'

"How could I," Kiba muttered under his breath. He was never one for the arts. Abstract paintings that were supposed to be deep and meaningful just looked like a black circle to him. Sculptures that were supposed to inspire people just looked like a man in a toga. Plays, with their supposed beauty and romance, were just effeminate men dancing around in tights, and seeing as how he himself was gay, he knew what it took to make a man a pansy. Well, it meant something to Naruto, so it meant something to him. Regardless of the fact that he had no idea what plays had to do with portraits, he would support Naruto's newfound passion in any way that he could. It was just like the time that Naruto had gone out and bought Kiba the flag that flew over the White House on June 25th, 1987, Kiba's birthday, when he had announced that he was majoring in history.

-Later That Night-

The seats in the campus theater were surprisingly comfortable, probably due to the fact that no one ever came to see the plays hosted by the performing arts wing of the school. Kiba slowly ate a bucket of popcorn that he had bought from the concession stand. To be honest, he was in shock to find that the school even _had_ a concession stand. Naruto, however, was completely engulfed in the plot unfolding on the stage. It was the infamous window scene where Romeo yells up to Juliet how much he loves her and blah blah blah. Kiba threw another kernel into his mouth and imagined what would happen if you took three guys majoring in film, locked them in a room, and posed the question "Who was the best James Bond?" Unfortunately, he had picked a poor scenario because as soon as he began to imagine the advantages and disadvantages of the three Englishmen, he realized that everyone knew that Sean Connery was the best James Bond, and King Arthur, and captain of a Russian nuclear submarine...

The only interesting part of the entire play was when Mercutio and Tibult have a duel. The swordplay was excellent, it was as if they actually wanted to kill each other.  


'Is Naruto checking out Mercutio's package?'

'It doesn't matter he dies... right about... now.'

Kiba looked over, expecting to see Naruto losing interest in the play somewhat with the moderately attractive Mercutio slain, but instead he looked worried. He wrote it off as Naruto getting too into the play, after all, there was a lot of drama and everyone was mad and suicidal and... stuff. He tossed another kernel of popcorn into his mouth, taking more pleasure in the semi-sport of popcorn catching than the play.

When the scene came where Romeo and Juliet got married, Kiba stole another glance of Naruto's face. Despite the happiness in the play, he still had the same worried look on his face. This was definitely not because of the play. There was something else going on. For the rest of play's duration Kiba sat pondering what Naruto could be worried about. Grades? No, he never worried about grades. Money? Well, it had been tight lately, but nothing to lose sleep over. He came to the conclusion that it was sadness because the two would be apart for a long time during the summer. The two hadn't spent more than a few days apart since they started dating after all. He was going to miss Naruto too, of course. It would be lonely in Rome, a romantic city with no one to share the mood with except for boring history majors and stuffy old professors.

Kiba didn't realize that the play was over until everyone around him stood up and clapped. Kiba quickly stood, spilling some popcorn onto the floor, and joined in with the rest of the audience in applauding. Naruto stayed behind to talk to one of his friends that was in the production. Kiba was waiting outside the brick theater when Naruto came outside. The two walked back to their apartment in relative silence. Only the chirping of the crickets breaking the quiet of the moonlit night...


	17. Chapter 17

Kiba completed a seventh lap around the living room as he talked to his mother on the phone. Normally Naruto wasn't one to complain, but the fact that Kiba's mom kept her son on such a short leash really pushed his buttons. Not to mention, of course, that Kiba was pacing in front of the couch that Naruto was sitting on, and the TV that he was watching, meaning that there had been 14 short breaks in his line of sight in the past two minutes.

"I... Ye... I kno... Ok..." the sound of Kiba's mother's voice could be heard through the telephone no matter where in the room it was. Her voice was more annoying and persistent than Akamaru's incessant yipping.

"Alri... Ok mom. Ye... Ok... Ok, I'll see you then. Ye... Yes, we'll see you then. Alright... You too... Ye... Yeah, take care... Bye."

"Devil woman," Naruto said, poorly hiding it in a cough. Kiba threw the phone at him. It wasn't because he was mad with him, but because his mom always managed to frustrate him.

"Don't say that," Kiba said half-heartily, mostly just so he wouldn't seem like an asshole for not defending his mother. He sat down on the couch next to Naruto with a heavy sigh. He put his head in his hands and ran them through his hair, messing it up even more.

"If she always makes you feel so shitty then why don't you just tell her to shove it," Naruto asked, taking a swig of Pepsi.

"Because then I wouldn't be able to live myself," he replied, "which means that I'd have to kill myself or... something." He rested his head in Naruto's lap. Naruto rested his hand on Kiba's mane, finally taking a break from the TV.

"What did she want this time?"

"She wants me to take you over to our house on Sunday for dinner."

"Oh, boy," Naruto said, eliciting a small chuckle out of Kiba. "I've never gotten to meet your parents!"

"Yeah, it should be fun..."

"What do you mean."

"Nothing."

"No, come on. What did you mean?"

"It's nothing, Naruto," he said getting up off the couch and heading to the kitchen to clean the dishes 

left over from dinner. Naruto got up and followed him, Pepsi can still in hand.

"We both know that's not true. Because when it's nothing you laugh and either kiss me, or slap my ass. But, since you instead came over to do dishes, then I know it's actually something."

"Very observant..."

"Well, that and you're as easy to read as a book." Kiba glared at him before returning to the plate he was in the middle of rinsing.

"Not a very good book, but a book nonetheless." He threw an old bar of soap at the blonde, which was avoided without much effort.

"Where do you learn a word like 'nonetheless' anyway?"

Naruto grabbed a handful of his orange jacket and in a melodramatic tone said, "That hurts, man."

-That Sunday-

Kiba was a very careful driver. A little too careful as many people had pointed out to him. He grasped the steering wheel like he was going to fall out of his seat if he didn't. He stayed exactly three miles under the speed limit and was very strict about no noise in the car. This made the three hour drive to his parents' home a bore for his passenger. Naruto had brought a sketchpad and a pencil along, hoping to finish some homework on the way. He had greatly underestimated the amount of work it took to be an artist as he finished his assignment in the first 20 minutes. That meant that he had to pass 2 hours and 40 minutes in complete silence. What to do...

"What if I convert 2 hours and 40 minutes into seconds," he thought to himself. Unlike Kiba, though, there were no annoying voices in his head to help him.

"Let's see... one hour is 60 minutes, and one minute is 60 seconds. So 60 times 60 is... Well 50 times 50 is... Ok, 50 times ten is 500! Wait... how does that help me again?"

"Hey, Kiba," he said aloud, not realizing that it was a mistake until he got a sharp "What!" as a response. "What's 60 times 60?"

"3,600. Why?"

"No reason." He returned to his mind. "So 3,600 times 2 is..."

-Three Mathematical Questions and One Bruised Ego Later-

"9,600 seconds in 2 hours and 40 minutes." He checked the clock on the dashboard. Only four minutes had passed. "Damn... Well, how many seconds are in 2 hours and 36 minutes?"

The car pulled into the Inuzuka's driveway at exactly 4:45p.m. The small house was only one story tall, but it looked like it cost as much as a mansion. It was on the top of a grassy hill overlooking a playground and a large meadow. It looked like more time had been spent on the lawn than on the house. Each blade of grass was exactly the same height. Whoever mowed it had done so while moving in a perfect square. There were two large pillars on the small patio in front of the door that were holding up... well nothing. There were two windows on either side of the door, each as perfectly measured as the grass. Even the cement used to hold the bricks together was spotless.

Kiba's father jogged out of the house and embraced his son, greeting him with generic pleasantries. Without even acknowledging Naruto, he wrapped his arm around Kiba's shoulder and lead him inside. Naruto shyly followed behind. Mrs. Inuzuka was waiting at the door to greet her son. The three had a massive family hug. Rather, Mr. and Mrs. Inuzuka hugged Kiba who was rapidly turning shades of purple and attempting to get out of his parents' death grip. When they were finally done hugging, Mrs. Inuzuka took notice of Naruto. She had a look of terror on her face. Naruto looked around to find that he was standing on the picture-perfect lawn. He quickly jumped onto the sidewalk leading from the driveway to the door, bumping into Kiba's father.

"Whoa, there, son," the massive man replied, helping Naruto keep his balance. "You alright?"

"Yeah," Naruto, replied, wiping a bead of sweat from his brow.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think that we've met before." Kiba jumped into the conversation.

"I'm sorry. Dad, this is Naruto. Naruto, this is my dad."

Naruto gripped the man's hand and shook it, "Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Inuzuka." Kiba's father returned the handshake, though not as enthusiastically. He looked confused, or even scared.

"We're expecting some company, Narudo, but you're welcome to join us for dinner if you want."

Not bothering to point out the fact that his name was 'Naruto', he replied, "I'd love to."

"Great," Mr. Inuzuka replied, patting the blonde on the back as if he were trying to force Naruto's heart up his throat. The man head inside as Naruto tried to account for all of his organs. Mrs. Inuzuka followed her husband inside, leaving Kiba and Naruto outside on the sidewalk all alone. When Naruto was confident that there had always been an empty spot below his lung, he walked into the Inuzuka's home.

It was cleaner than an operating room. All the walls were white, matching the picture frames and light switches. He followed Kiba into the small living room and took a seat on a couch. It was one of those 

couches that old people had. It was more used for decoration than as an actual place to sit. All four of them sat down and exchanged small talk until a small white dog came darting out of the hallway and jumped up yipping at Kiba. "Akamaru," he exclaimed, picking up the small dog who proceeded to thoroughly clean Kiba's face with his tongue. As Akamaru licked Kiba's face, Mrs. Inuzuka got up to add an extra set of silverware to the table. In an effort to satisfy his curiosity, Naruto asked,

"So, who are we missing?"

Mr. Inuzuka replied from behind a glass of wine, "Kiba's girlfriend..."


	18. Chapter 18

Naruto looked on in confusion. Had he heard correctly? Was Kiba bisexual? Worse yet, was he... dare he say it... _straight?_ He looked at Kiba. He was just sitting there as if nothing had happened. It was at this point that Naruto realized he was drawing attention to himself, so he quickly collected himself and replied with a soft "Oh..."

They sat in silence for a few minutes until Naruto spoke up and said, "Hey, Kiba." the brunette turned to look at him, "I left something in the car, can you come get it with me."

"Sure," he replied. Once they were outside and out of earshot, Naruto got very angry very fast. "Your parents think that you're straight?"

"Well... Kind of..."

"We've been dating for three years and they still think that you like chicks?"

"I haven't gotten around to it is all," he replied defensively.

"You've had three years!"

"Look," Kiba pulled him toward the car, afraid that someone would see them, "It's for my dad, ok? He wanted someone to carry on the family name. He has no brothers or anything, only me and my sister. It would break his heart to know that the Inuzuka line is going to die with him."

"Isn't it worse to make him think that there's still a chance for you to get married?" Out of the corner of his eye, Naruto could make out a car's headlights.

"You don't understand how much this means to him."

"Kiba, you're lying to your father about one of the most important things in your life." The headlights got closer.

"I'm not saying I like it," his voice got more stern, "but I don't have the heart to tell him."

The car was turning into the Inuzuka's driveway as the two finished their conversation. The sleek black car came to a stop just behind Kiba's blue one. A girl with pink hair stepped out.

Kiba walked over to Sakura and shook her hand. "Thanks again for coming."

"It's no problem," she replied. She noticed the blonde leaning on Kiba's car and said, "Naruto? Naruto Uzumaki? That's who you ended up with, Kiba?"

Kiba blushed, "yeah..."

Sakura ran over and hugged a still-dazed Naruto. "I haven't seen you since high school." She let him go. "So what have you been doing? Besides Kiba, I mean." Both boys turned a deep red.

"Not much, Sakura. How about you," Naruto asked shyly.

"Not a lot, you know? I'm pre-law, so I've been doing that."

Naruto replied with an un-interested "oh..."

The Inuzukas had come outside to see what was going on. They were both excited to see the pink-haired girl. As the two adults hugged and kissed what they thought to be their new daughter-in-law, Naruto took the opportunity to elbow Kiba in the rib and jerked his head in the direction of his father. Kiba glared at the blonde before he headed over to the mob of people on the driveway.

'You should tell him.'

'But, he'll be ashamed.'

'So what? You love Naruto, right?'

'Of course.'

'Then what else matters?'

'It's not that simple.'

'Why not?'

'It just isn't.'

Kiba sighed as he put on the same act that he did every time his parents wanted to meet his "girlfriend." He promised himself that one day he would come clean with his parents, but for now he had a fake girlfriend he needed to have dinner with.

-Later That Night-

The drive home was a quiet one. Kiba had never seen Naruto so depressed. He just stared out the window at the dark scenery for the entire ride.

That night, they both went to bed without saying a word...


	19. Chapter 19

"Your paper should include why the Civil War was started, the events which led to the emancipation proclamation, and how the war ended. Don't spend all 30 pages on Grant and Jackson. I know that you know more people than that..."

The professor continue to lecture what he thought was his 10:30 class. But 75 of the 125 students that made up the lecture hall were not paying attention. Many were passing notes and planning end of the year parties. Kiba, however, had more important things on his mind. Things that he didn't want to think about, but felt like he had to. He _did _have to. It had kept him up the past two nights. It was what Naruto had said the previous weekend. The blond had refused to talk to Kiba ever since that night, and did his best to stay away from him. The silent treatment was childish, but it worked on Kiba. He loved hearing Naruto's voice for some reason. It soothed him, and made all the other problems in his life stop. But without it, the reality of the world was bearing down on the unarmored brunette. If it made Naruto talk to him again, then he had to tell his family. But, weren't their feelings important too? Someone's feelings are going to get hurt. He was between a rock and a sexier rock. He let his head fall on his desk. This was too much for him to handle. Maybe a summer in Rome would do him some good. After all, politics was about making hard decisions, when it wasn't about money of course.

-That Afternoon-

Kiba took the long way home, through the Quad. He put his hands behind his head and walked, staring at the clouds, trying his best to not think about anything. But that was the one thing that he couldn't do.

'How bad could it be?'

'How bad could what be?'

'Telling the family?'

'We're not supposed to be thinking about that you dunce.'

'Well we both are now, so you might as well answer the question.'

'Fine. I guess it couldn't be that bad'

'I think it would be like ripping off a band-aid.'

'So why not get it over with?'

'It's not my decision. We don't control what he does, that's Frank's job.'

'Who's Frank?'

'What are you talking about? You say hello to him every time you go get coffee.'

'I can't drink coffee.'

'We need some pills...'

He folded his arms behind his head and continued to his dorm. The spring sun shone down on his already tan face. If it weren't for the argument Naruto and he were having, Kiba would consider it the "perfect day." The only other day that came close was the one that he had in his dream only a month after discovering his sexuality. It was sunset on the beach. He and Naruto had made a fire on the sand and had started to undress each - he stopped thinking. He was starting to get an erection and was very aware of his surroundings. The school's Bible studies class walked past him, thankfully taking more interest in their book than in the openly homosexual student walking only a few feet away from them. Kiba continued down the quad a few more paces before he stopped mid-stride.

He could have sworn that amongst the short white boys he had seen a familiar face. He didn't know anyone taking any kind of religious class. He turned around slowly to see who it was. On of the taller boys had broken away from the rest of the group and was mimicking Kiba's movements. The two stared each other for a moment, each trying to figure out who the other was. It took them both a little while to figure out who the other was, but the boy figured it out before Kiba. He smiled and went to give him an unexpected hug. Kiba was in a mad rush to figure out who was touching him when, out of nowhere, the boy's name popped into his head.

"Neji! It's been a while."

"Yes, yes it has Kiba."

"Are you with those theology majors?"

"I am, I want to devote my life to our lord and savior."

Kiba mentally rolled his eyes before he spoke again. "That's great."

"What are you studying?"

"History..."

"Oh, well that's... interesting."

"No it's not. It's just lectures from stuffy old men." They both laughed.

"I was going to go eat with some of my classmates, but if you're up for it, we could catch up over lunch."  


Kiba had mixed feelings about that. He did want to catch up with his friend, but he knew as well as anyone that homosexuals and priests got along as well as water and oil or black and white. Well, more like rainbows and white. He reluctantly accepted his friend's offer and headed off to the cafeteria.

-A Few Minutes Later-

Kiba had never actually been in the cafeteria. He and Naruto had always made their own food or gone to the campus diner. But the cafeteria was a titan compared to the small dining room in the diner. There were two floors. _Two floors!_ That was a lot of food. Kiba just followed Neji who headed to a small Chinese booth tucked away between a Pizza Hut booth and a Subway. They got their food and went to find a seat. There was a table that was vacant, save for what looked like a glass of pink lemonade. The two sat down and began their trip down nostalgia avenue. Kiba recounted the events of the past 3 years of his life, conveniently leaving out the fact that he had a boyfriend of course. Neji told him how a few days after High School graduation, he was driving down the road just after it rained. His car began to skid and it stopped in a construction yard. The mud underneath the car then made it fall back several feet. Neji got out of the car to watch as several tons of steel fell on the exact spot where his car had been only seconds before. He said that it was at that point that he decided to devote his life to God. He claimed that since He had saved him, his life belonged to Him.

As he finished his story another student walked over to their table and sat in the seat in front of the glass of pink lemonade. Of all the people who could have sat there, Kiba thought, it had to be _him_. Sasuke didn't seem too happy to see Kiba either. Neji quickly caught on and asked if they knew each other. The two didn't bother to look at him, they just met the other's cold gaze.

"Are you really not over it yet?" Sasuke asked in the most annoyed voice he could muster.

"Am I not over what yet?" Kiba replied.

"You know damn well what."

Kiba just stared at him blankly. Then as Sasuke turned to Neji, his blood turned to ice. He tried to stop the bastard from telling his friend about his personal life, but he was too slow to react.

"Your friend over here is still pissed just because I slept with his boyfriend ten years ago."

Neji's face looked the same way that Kiba felt.

"Sasuke, why don't you just fuck off?"

"Whatever," he sighed. He picked up his tray and left to go sit at another table.

Neji's look of shock turned to one of sorrow, and then slowly to disgust.

"You're homosexual," he asked the food in front of him.

Kiba hesitantly replied. "Yes."

Neji looked him in the eye and began to talk. "Kiba, I'm your friend and nothing could ever change that. But I am also loyal to God, and nothing can ever change that either. This puts me in a difficult situation. I think that you need help. You need to stop this lifestyle before it destroys your life. If you don't, then God wil have to punish you for sinning."

As a homosexual, Kiba had heard that speech more times than he could remember, and they always fell on deaf ears, but hearing it from Neji changed it somehow. It scared him more than it ever had before. Neji hesitated a moment before standing up.

"You don't know who this may hurt. Our God is a benevolent one to his followers, but a viscious one to sinners. Kiba, you have to stop this before it hurts someone close to you."

-7:56 PM-

Neji's words still stung. Kiba had tried to clear his head all day, but he just couldn't stop thinking about what his friend had said. He walked up to his dorm, but before he could open the door, it opened on its own. It was Naruto, he was carrying a backpack and a small duffel bag. Kiba looked at him confusedly.

"What are you doing?"

Naruto looked at Kiba, then the floor. He lifted his head up, but still couldn't face the brunette. He stared at the wall to his left as he talked. "I don't think that I can live with someone who's embarrassed of me. I'm going to go live some friends in the city for a while. I'll come back for finals. Maybe by then I'll feel good enough to talk to you again."

He was obviously trying to look brave, but anyone could hear the regret and sadness in his voice. They stood in the hallway, neither looking at the other. After a few minutes, Naruto solemnly walked past Kiba, tears slowly making their way down his chin. Kiba stared at the end of the hallway for the longest time. He was trying to absorb everything that had happened. He had lost the love of his life. At that moment, Neji's words filled his ears. He had a chance to end his deviant lifestyle and live as a bachelor. Or he could go make up with Naruto.

Kiba clenched his fists. He knew what he had to do.

-Later That Night-

It was almost 10 when he got off the interstate. It was only a few more minutes until he would reach his parent's house. He had a million chances to stop, turn around, and forget this whole thing, but everytime he thought of Naruto and how happy he made him. He drove into the upper class neighborhood that his parents lived in. He could hear sirens in the distance. He gripped the steering wheel tightly, then relaxed as he thought about how nothing had happened to his parents. They were both fine. Some old lady probably lost one of her diamond earrings. He snickered to himself and continued down the tree-lined streets. The soft glow of the streetlights bounced off the hood of his car, making it look almost angelic. As he came closer to his parents' house, the sirens got louder. He tightened his grip again, but this time he couldn't relax. As he neared their driveway the soft glow of the lights was chased away by the red of one of the flashing lights on the ambulance.

Kiba stopped across the street. He found the courage to get out and find out what happened. There were two policemen in front of his house. He walked up to them.

"What happened?"

"Don't worry about it."

"Those are my _parents!_ Now tell me what happened!"

The officer sighed and explained what happened.

"Your father came home while someone was robbing his house. He tried to chase the burglar off, but in the scuffle your father must have removed his mask. In order to protect his identity, the thief... He shot your father..."


	20. Chapter 20

He didn't know what to do. He was too shocked to stand, but he was too aware to fall to his knees. He was too upset to keep a straight face, but had too much dignity to cry. On the inside, he wasn't sure how he should react, but on the outside, he looked like a blank canvas. He slumped over, his face emotionless and his hands hanging limply at his side. After several minutes he had finally collected himself to react. He walked nonchalantly over to his car, he sat in the driver's seat, rolled up the windows, locked the door, and cried until he was dehydrated and gasping for breath. Were it not for the tears flooding his eyes, Kiba would have seen the coroner put his father's corpse in the back of his van and drive away.

-Earlier That Night-

Naruto never thought that he was very bright. It wasn't something that he was ashamed of, it was a simple fact of life. Some people came into the world gifted with brains, or with muscles, or with good looks. Naruto considered Kiba to be someone with all three of those characteristics. He, however, came into this world with only his playful spirit. So he was not surprised to find that he had misjudged his boyfriend. Naruto solemnly walked past the only person that he thought he could trust entirely. The one person in this god-forsaken world who loved him unconditionally. He had thought that Kiba didn't care what other people thought about him. But, he was wrong. Apparently everyone was influenced by what someone thought.

He walked past Kiba after telling him that he was staying at his friend's house. The brunette didn't say anything, and he didn't have to, Naruto knew him well enough to know how he was feeling, even when his face was blank. He walked downstairs and out of the dorm. His friend Shino was waiting outside in his car. Naruto threw his bags in the backseat and took his place in the passenger seat. The two rode in silence. Shino occasionally glanced at Naruto, but every time he did, the blonde was staring out the window at the scenery as it passed by. Shino was never one to pry, but he couldn't help but wonder what could have happened that made Kiba and Naruto so upset at each other that they were now living in separate apartments. Naruto didn't say. The two hadn't really talked. They had a class together the previous semester, and they saw each other on campus, but they were more acquaintances than they were friends. All he heard when he picked up the phone was Naruto's voice asking him to meet him outside of his dorm. Naruto had asked to stay at his apartment until the semester ended in two weeks. Were it not for the sadness in the boy's voice, Shino would have tried to weasel his way out of it. He wasn't very good at... sharing.

Naruto had been keeping his eye on Shino using the mirror mounted on the side of the car. As soon as his friend had his attention on the road again, the blonde let the single tear that he had been trying to suppress, slide down his cheek, and off his chin.

-Neil's Pub, 20 Minutes from Campus-

A half-depressed, half-infuriated Kiba walked through the front door, gaining an odd look or two. He made his way over to the bar, pulled up a stool, and stared straight ahead at a bottle of whiskey resting on the shelf behind the bar. The bartender made his way over to him and asked, "How old are you?"

Kiba took a second to respond, whether it was out of depression or hesitation he didn't know, nor did he care. "How old do I look," he asked, half trying to start a fight, just to get a chance to vent.

"You look like you're barely old enough for a big boy cup. Either let me see some I.D. or get back home."

The two both knew that the bartender had made a mistake instantly. Kiba shot his hand up, grabbing the bartender's collar and dragged him down to his level. He looked the man square in the eye and said, "I'm old enough to know when I'm pissed off enough to punch your fucking face down your own throat until you choke on it."

The man, even though obviously several years older than Kiba, knew that the brunette meant business, and he would rather get in trouble for serving alcohol to a kid that would be turning 21 in a few weeks, than getting in trouble for fighting a kid that was half of his age.

"Alright," the man said, pulling his face away from Kiba's. "I'll tell you what. You drove here, yeah?" Kiba nodded. "You look like you're down on your luck, so I'm gonna be a kind old man and let you have all you want in exchange for your car keys."

"You think that you're getting my car," Kiba asked through clenched teeth.

"No, I want your keys so I know that you won't go driving after you drink."

Kiba relaxed slightly and after several seconds and relinquished his keys.

"Now," the man said in his most professional voice, "what can I get for you?"

Kiba pointed to the bottle of whiskey, "that," he eyed some cigarettes next to the rack of liquor, pointed to them and said, "and a pack of those."

The man got a pack of cigarettes and a lighter and handed them to Kiba. As Kiba lit one of them, he took the bottle of whiskey off the shelf and poured some into a shot glass. He went to turn around to put it back on the shelf when Kiba lightly grabbed his arm. The bartender turned around to see the brunette taking a drag of his cigarette, and slowly shaking his head from left to right at the same time. The man put the bottle next to Kiba and went to attend his other customers.

Kiba felt the eyes of every member of the bar on his neck. He turned around, and as soon as he did, everyone went back to their drinks. He turned back to fact the bar and took another drag. The taste of tobacco mixed with the burning of the whiskey hitting the back of his throat. It tasted exactly like he felt.

-12:32p.m. Kiba and Formerly Naruto's Dorm Room-

Kiba woke up on the bed that he and Naruto used to share. He had fallen asleep on top of the covers. He was still dressed in the clothes he wore the previous day. He hadn't even removed his 

shoes. He slowly got up, but was immediately struck with a massive headache. He couldn't recall what he had done last night. He tried to remember, but even that hurt.

'Damn...'

'The fuck?'

'What happened?'

'I think that there was a car. Maybe there was an ugly guy. There was _definitely_ beer.'

Kiba had a short coughing fit.

'And cigarettes.'

'Do you feel any better?'

'Oh yeah!'

'You feel like shit too, don't you.'

'Well... clean shit.'

'??'

'You know, like no corn or anything.'

'Ah, yes, of course.'

Kiba tried again to sit up. The headache was still there, but it was duller and more bearable. He tried to sit all the way up, and as soon as he did he got nauseous. "Oh shit," he exclaimed.

He ran to the bathroom and began to vomit as soon as he reached the toilet. _NARUTO_.

_'"Tag, you're it," Choji yelled as he tapped Kiba's shoulder. He ran as the brunette began to chase after him. Choji ran to a tree where a boy was sitting on a swing. The chubby boy ran around and around the tree, confusing the poor child to no end. Kiba, being the intelligent kindergartener that he was, simply waited for Choji to wear himself out and then tag him, instead of chasing him around in a pointless circle._

"What is he doing," the boy on the swing asked.

"He's running away from me," replied Kiba.

"But, he's running in a circle," the boy replied, watching Choji getting dizzier every second.

_"Hey, who are you," Kiba asked the boy._

"Who, me?"

"Of course, you."

"I'm Naruto. My parents just moved here."

"Well, that there is Choji. And I'm Kiba," the brunette offered a hand, which Naruto firmly grasped.

"Nice to meet you."

"Goddamit," Kiba yelled. That last thing he wanted to do was think about Naruto. He tried to get the memory of that day all those years ago out of his head, but he couldn't. He felt a small box in his pants. He pulled it out. It was the rest of his third, no fourth pack of cigarettes from the night before. he fumbled with the pack, trying to get one out. He got what he was after, put it in his mouth, and began searching his body for a lighter. He felt some matches in his back poket. There was half a book left. He tried to tear on off, but the harder he tried, the more he lost control of the book until eventually it fell into the toilet.

"Fuck! Fuck! God fucking dammit!" Kiba, punched the wall next to the toilet. Nothing in his life could go right. _Nothing_. There was a knock at the door. Kiba took a second to compose himself and flush the toilet. He got up and made his way over to the door. The person knocked again.

"Yeah, yeah, I hear you," he said, louder than he intended. He opened the door to find Shikamaru. Of all the people that Kiba would have guessed to be on the other side of the door, Shikamaru would have been at the bottom of the list. The kid barely got out of bed to go to class, so what would he be doing on Kiba's doorstep?

"Hey, Shika-" Kiba was cut off by a pair of keys being thrust into his face. He looked back at his friend, a confused look plastered on his face.

"They're yours," the boy explained.

Kiba thought back to the night before, trying to recall where he had left his keys. "Oh, right. I left those at the bar," he said out loud, grabbing the keys out of Shikamaru's outstretched hand. "Thanks."

Shikamaru shrugged and muttered what was probably "you're welcome," but Kiba couldn't make it out.

"So, why do you have my keys," Kiba asked

"My brother owns the bar you got smashed at," Shikamaru replied.

"Oh, that would explain it..."

"And since when do you smoke," Shikamaru asked.

Kiba realized that he had the cigarette from before still in his mouth. "Oh, uh, since last night I guess."

"Those are bad for your health, you know," Shikamaru said.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. But, I find it hard to care about anything since Naruto left."

"Well then the answer seems obvious. You have to get back together with him."

"Well, it's not that-" Shikamaru started walking away before Kiba could respond.

"Your health depends upon it, Kiba..."


	21. Chapter 21

The taxi smelled like an old couple's apartment, despite the fact that the driver couldn't have been more than 35 years old. Kiba looked out of the window at the trees surrounding the highway. Were it not for Naruto, Kiba wouldn't even be at KSU. He had test scores good enough to get him into any school in the country. He had applied to MIT and Brown when Naruto proposed they go to the local university. He couldn't disagree with the blonde. Naruto had similar scores, but he said that he didn't want to leave his home. Kiba was always one to put education over everything; until he met Naruto that was. He just couldn't say no to those cerulean eyes. He could be getting a quality education at one of the most prestigious schools in the country, but he ended up at KSU. At the time, he didn't mind making the trade, but now that Naruto had left him, there was no reason for Kiba to stay at the University.

The cab pulled up to Neil's pub. Kiba paid the man and got out of the car. He went to the parking lot and looked for his own car. It wasn't hard to find, as few people went to a bar at 10 in the morning. Feeling the urge for a cigarette, Kiba took one out of his carton and tried to find a lighter. Remembering that he had dropped his matches in the bathroom, he silently cursed. He walked over to the bar, hoping that someone would be there to sell him a lighter and another pack.

He pulled on the glass door. Surprisingly, it opened. He walked in to find that all the chairs were turned upside down and placed on the tables. There was a man going around sweeping.

"Excuse-," Kiba realized that he still had the cigarette in his mouth.

'I need to stop doing that.'

He removed the obstruction from between his lips and tried again. "Excuse me," he said to the man sweeping.

The man turned around and looked at Kiba. He recognized him as the bartender from the night before.

"Ah, welcome back," the older man said, resting the broom against the wall. "Did my brother give you your keys back?"

Kiba presented the keys that were confiscated from him the night before.

"Good," the bartender replied. "So, can I help you with something?"

"Yeah, I, uh, lost my matches. I was hoping you'd have a lighter I could have."

"Sure," the man muttered, walking behind the bar and grabbed a lighter from a cabinet. Before handing it to Kiba he said, "those are bad for your health, you know," gesturing to the pack of cigarettes in Kiba's hand.

Kiba half snatched the lighter from the man's hand. He lit a cigarette and puffed on it a few times before responding. "So is jumping off of an eight story dorm building."

The man looked at him questioningly. "What does that have to do with anything," he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's one or the other," Kiba replied as he took a seat on a stool.

"How are they related?"

"Well, I can either drown my problems in whiskey and nicotine, or I can jump off a building." He took another drag before finishing his thought with a small smile, "but they have patches for nicotine."

The man let out a sigh, then grabbed a bottle of the same whiskey that Kiba had been drinking the night before. He poured two glasses and placed one in front of the brunette. He grabbed a carton of cigarettes from the display box and lit one for himself. Kiba snickered at the hypocrisy. "I didn't get into this business because I couldn't get into college or anything, y'know."

"Oh," Kiba replied, obviously uninterested.

"No, I did it because I don't like psychiatrists."

"Way to stick it to the shrinks," Kiba replied sarcastically throwing back his shot and pouring himself another.

"That's what I wanted to do, you know. I wanted to be a shrink. When I was your age, people always came to me when they had problems. I figured that I could help them more if I got a degree." He took a drag of his own cigarette before continuing. "But the thing about shrinks is that they charge a lot and they don't give you anything in return. They don't actually care. They don't see you as a real person. They see you as a problem to be solved. I couldn't stand that. And I didn't want to become that. So I asked myself, 'who else talks to people about their problems' and here you go." He restured to the empty room.

"A bartender?"

"Yeah, I get to come here every night, have a drink or two, listen to some jokes, y'know." Kiba nodded. "But I vowed to myself that not a day would go by that I didn't help someone deal with their problems. So, lay it on me."

"Lay what on you," Kiba asked around the cigarette in his mouth.

"What sent you over the edge? What caused you to come in here and start drinking and smoking?"

"You wouldn't understand."  


The man laughed heartily, "how many times do you think I heard that one? Come one, try me."

Kiba exhaled deeply and put the rest of the cigarette out. "Maybe you would understand, but it's a long story."

The man sighed again. He walked over to the door and turned the neon 'OPEN' sign off. He walked back over to his position behind the bar and stared at Kiba.

"Alright..."

-Three Hours Later-

"You know, Kiba, you could have just said 'my boyfriend dumped me.'"

"But if I did that," Kiba took another shot of whiskey, "then I wouldn't get the free drinks." He got up and went to the door.

"Kiba," the bartender yelled out.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm not going to drive. I'll call the cab again."

"No, not that." He walked around the bar to face Kiba. He grabbed him by the shoulders and looked down at him. "If you were happy before, and now you're not, then it doesn't take a genius to figure out that you just have to go back to the way things were before." With that, the man smiled at the brunette and went back to his sweeping.

-Four Hours Later-

After finally having sobered up, Kiba decided to go out and think about what, who he assumed to be Neil, had said to him. He hailed a cab and had it drop him off at the outskirts of town. The driver looked confused when Kiba asked him to pull over in the middle of a dirt road with nothing for three miles in either direction, but he wasn't paid to ask questions.

After the cough of the cab had faded into the distance, Kiba continued on foot down the road in the same direction. Sure, he could have just taken the cab for a little while more, he had the money and the time, but he wanted to be alone. What better place to do that than in the middle of nowhere of a town in the middle of nowhere in a state in the middle of nowhere in a country that was the focus of the world. Well, three out of four wasn't bad, he thought to himself.

He walked for several miles, not even thinking about anything. Just enjoying his time alone, with no one around to distract him. Whenever he was in classes, he had to focus on his lesson and Naruto did get on his nerves, despite the fact that he loved him more than he ever actually thought possible.

'What do you think you're doing?'  


'What?! What could I have possibly done this time?!'

'Nothing!'

'You're just going to let him think about that bastard at a time like this?'

'What do you mean "that bastard"?'

'He just walked out on us and you're going to let him think nice things about him?'

'Well he had good reason to.'

'Good reason my foot.'

'You don't have feet, John, we've been through this.'

'Hey, it's Frank from upstairs. What's up Frank!'

'Hey, guys, uh, the boss told me to tell you to shut up.'

'What?'

'Yeah, he said that you're ruining his "moment"'

'What does he plan to do about it?'

'Well, we are inhabiting _his_ consciousness, so I guess he could kill us.'

'Oh, right...'

Kiba returned to reality after finally getting some relief from those two bickering halves of his brain, only to discover that he had no idea where he was, or what time it was. He didn't have a watch, nor did he have a map. Luckily, the road looked like it was leading him out of the forest and towards what looked like a beach.

It definitely wasn't a place for tourists. The sand was scratchy and grey, and it smelled like high tide. But, he reasoned that that meant that he wouldn't have to share it with anyone else.

However, after several minutes, it became clear that that was not the case. In front of a pier was what looked like some college guy who had passed out from drinking too much beer. Though, if you were going to do that kind of thing, this would be the place to do it.

There wasn't anyone around except for the sand and the ocean. He felt that the college guy may 

prove to be good company. He recalled how he had gotten much relief from talking to an unconscious Naruto when he was in the hospital. He made his way over to the man and sat next to him, making sure that he wasn't sitting in dried vomit.

"You probably have it easy, don't you," he said to the passed out man next to him.

"I'm sure you have a girlfriend that you have un-emotional sex with all the time. I can't decide who's worse. Men or women. I mean, take my boyfriend for instance, he's a crazed moron, but he still genuinely cares about me."

"I wish I were so lucky," said the unconscious boy.

"I thought that you had passed out."

"No, just fell asleep."

"You want a smoke," Kiba asked, lighting up his own cigarette.

"No thanks, I'm not in a rush to go to my deathbed."

"So you're one of the lucky few to still have their sanity," he asked the horizon. He boy was staring at the setting sun as well, which was, all things considered, better in the long run. The more impersonal the conversation remained, the easier it would be to talk to the stranger.

"You might say that."

"What's wrong, girlfriend dump you?"

"Not exactly."

"Well, whatever your problem is, it can't be worse than mine."

"Oh yeah," the boy challenged.

"Probably," Kiba replied non-chalantly.

"The person that I've been dating for several years and was hoping to live with for the rest of my life doesn't love me."

"Ouch, that's gotta suck," Kiba replied.

"So, what's your story."

Kiba hesitated, mostly to build up dramatic tension, but also to take another drag of his cigarette. "My dad got shot and killed last night."

The sun began to set as the boy replied. "Well, I guess you can't take it back."

"Doubt it."

"That's something that I learned a long time ago. You can't take shit back, and you shouldn't, because it defines who you are as a person."

"That's real deep for some homeless guy living on a beach."

"I'm not a homeless guy."

"Where do you live, then?"

"Nowhere in particular."

Kiba chuckled, "I see."

"This is my favorite part," the stranger replied. The sun was almost entirely gone, and all that was left in the sky was a purple hue that died out as the last rays of the sun fell below the horizon.

"So why are you out here, if you have a home," the man asked, never taking his eyes off of the horizon.

After several minutes, Kiba replied. "I'm looking for someone."

"Who?"

A single tear fell down the brunettes face before he replied, "my other half."

"How long have you known it was me?"

Kiba chuckled to himself, "The second my heart skipped a beat when I sat down."

The stranger turned around and looked Kiba straight in the eyes, even though the brunette was still staring at the horizon...


	22. Chapter 22

Author's Note: I'm sorry for the long wait. School has been really demanding, and I haven't found the time to sit down and write this until just recently. This will be the last chapter I put out for this series for a while. I will be spending most of my time on Same Old Life. If you like this series and have not yet seen my new one, I suggest you go check it out here. Like I said, there will always be another chapter, it may just take a while!

The Only Soul  
Chapter 12

Kiba awoke to the sound of a loud screech. He was warm, and he was wet. Every part of his body felt weird. It all hurt so much, that there was no pain.

* * *

"I'm sorry about your father," the blonde said sincerely.

"Yeah, me too," Kiba replied.

"I guess I wasn't helping much, huh?"

"Not really."

"I'm sorry, Kiba."

He took a long drag of his cigarette, trying to keep the smoke in his lungs as long as possible before exhaling deeply. Kiba knew that he was sorry, and he knew that he shouldn't be mad at Naruto. But, that didn't change the fact that he was. A lot of things in this world aren't supposed to happen, but they do anyway. Such is the case with Naruto. Kiba didn't reply to the apology because he didn't accept it. Whether he knew it or not, he blamed Naruto for the death of his father.

"Look, why don't we go back to campus and just deal with this tomorrow," the blonde suggested.

As much as Kiba hated him at the moment, he had to admit that that was a good idea. There was no sense in sitting on a beach feeling sorry for himself. Kiba got up and, reluctantly, offered a hand to help Naruto up. As he did, their eyes met. Naruto's were full of guilt while Kiba's, usually full of compassion and love, were filled with hate and blame and anger. Just that sent a chill down Naruto's spine.

* * *

The screeching got louder and Kiba tried to stand up, but he couldn't. He opened his eyes and all he saw was black. It was the middle of the night, there wasn't anything to see. He forced his hand to move toward his head. He touched his forehead and felt a gooey substance.A massive wave of pain came over his body and he cringed, shutting his eyes tightly and grabbing his head.

* * *

"Let's take my car," Naruto suggested.

Kiba thought that the point of going back to the apartment was to get some space. While, at the moment, he detested the mere idea of sharing a ride home with Naruto, much less an apartment, there wasn't much of a choice. As Kiba went to get into the car, Naruto spoke up.

"I actually had something to drink before I came here, uh, can you drive," the blonde asked sheepishly.

Kiba huffed and gestured for the keys. As Naruto searched his pockets, Kiba's anger only increased. Naruto tossed the keys to Kiba and made his way over to the side of the car. Kiba opened the door, put the car into gear, and prepared for an awkward, and angry, ride home.

* * *

"_He's got a pulse!"_

Two paramedics pulled Kiba out of the mangled wreck and put him on a stretcher. While one tended to Kiba, the second went to get Naruto. Kiba tried to take in what was happening around him. There was so much noise, that it was almost impossible to tell what exactly was going on. The paramedic tending to Kiba left him to help the first place Naruto on a second stretcher. Several more sirens came wailing down the street.

* * *

When Kiba awoke, it was in a hospital bed. He was hooked up to an I.V. drip and a heart monitor. A plastic mask covered his nose and mouth, supplying a steady stream of oxygen. He tried to take the mask off, only to find something resisting his arm. He looked down and saw a cast. His arm had been broken and he hadn't even realized it. After checking to make sure that his left arm was usable, he took the covers off to find that his left leg was also in a cast. He had several bruises and a few stitches scattered throughout his chest.

"Doctor! Doctor, he's awake," a nurse yelled. Kiba hadn't even noticed her enter. After several minutes, a man in a white coat came into the room. He looked at Kiba up and down, then pulled up a swivel chair. He sat down and checked the chart on the side of Kiba's bed.

"How are you feeling," he asked the clipboard.

"I've been better," Kiba replied.

"Do you know where you are?"

"A hospital?"

"Good," the doctor said, marking something on the chart. "And do you know how you got here."

"I'm not sure."

The doctor sighed and marked the sheet again.

"What happened to me?"

"You were in a car crash."

"I was driving."

The doctor nodded.

"How's Naruto? Is he alright?"

"Who," the doctor replied.

"Naruto! The guy who was in the car with me."

"Oh, right! Yes, he's just down the hall."

"I need to go check on him," Kiba said, darting out of bed, forgetting his broken leg. He tripped and fell backwards, banging his head against the mattress. The doctor helped him sit back down on the bed.

"You're in no condition to go running off like that," the doctor said.

"I don't much care," Kiba said as he stood up.

The doctor got up to block his path. "You need to get some rest."

"And you need to get out of my way," Kiba said, trying to push his way past the man. Instead he fell again, only to be caught by the doctor.

Deciding that he wasn't going to be able to convince the brunette to get back in bed, he asked the nurse to get him a crutch. When she returned, the doctor put it under Kiba's shoulder and let him lean on it.

"I'll show you where your friend is," the doctor said quietly.

Kiba followed him out the door and to a room at the end of the hall. The doctor opened the door and let Kiba in. Naruto was on a bed, attached to a heart monitor and an I.V. drip just like Kiba was. He also had a mask on to help him breathe, as well as a brace around his neck.

"Is he going to be alright," Kiba asked, worry in his voice.

"It's still too soon to tell. He came in pretty banged up." The doctor grabbed the chart on the end of Naruto's bed. "His arm was fractured in three places, his leg was also broken. Moderate concussion, and minor exterior hemorrhaging. He was unconscious when he came in, but we're keeping him asleep with a mild sedative. If he woke up now, he would probably pass out from the pain."

Kiba stared at Naruto. Had the doctor not told him who it was, he never would have guessed that the boy with all kinds of casts, braces, and monitors attached to him could have been the man that he loved so much.

"How long until you can release him?"

"Like I said, we don't even know the full extent of his injuries. The concussion may have caused other mental complications, and we still need to see if any shrapnel got into his bloodstream," the doctor looked over at Kiba. It looked like he had stopped paying attention, a depressed look was plastered on his face. "But, I'm sure that he'll recover fully," the doctor lied. After several minutes a nurse came in and informed the man that another patient needed his attention. Kiba and Naruto were all alone in the room.

As soon as the door closed Kiba collapsed onto the floor, sobbing uncontrollably. "I'm so sorry," he said through tears and gasps for breath. "It's all my fault..." The heart monitor started to beep erratically. Several nurses and the doctor rushed in.

"He's comatose," one of them exclaimed.

"Get the crash cart, and get this kid out of here!"

One of the nurses grabbed Kiba by the still crying Kiba by the arm and led him back to his own room.


End file.
